Mark Townsend felt more than a little trapped in a web of his own making as he once again sat alone at his desk. Too much was riding on being able to crack these codes. Not only had they threatened his immediate family as it was now. They had found out somehow about John and Peter- the children from his marriage to that evil bitch, Claire Kinney. Although he had not been there for most of their lives, through no fault of his own, he still looked out for them. He paid his child support regardless of the fact he wasn't allowed to see them. Claire and Joan made sure to tell the judge officiating over the custody case some years ago that Mark was unfit in every way. He drank too much. He never went to church. He was abusive in spite of the fact that he had pushed Claire to keep him from hitting him. The last draw had been the dayshe had broken his nose and cracked one of his ribs by repeatedly beating him with a cast iron skillet. Unfortunately for him, the judge believed her and her salt-of-the-earth hypocritical mother disregarding the police report maintaining his innocence and that he acted in self-defense. Now these people were after the one person in the entire Kinney household which despite his lifestyle and upbringing had managed to make a success of himself.

In Mark's mind, Brian Kinney was to be admired. He knew all about Jack's abusive ways and Joan's drinking to block out her culpability of Brian's repeated physical, emotional and mental abuse. But Brian used it as fuel to get out alive. Growing up next door from that house of horrors, it was his one desire to rescue Claire since he couldn't do anything to protect Brian from his father. Joan took to ‘disciplining' Claire while quoting Bible verses but the minute Jack went for both Claire and Joan, they would point him in Brian's direction. He often wondered why Joan would let her child be abused like that; why she enabled Jack's constant maltreatment of her children. It seemed to him that the only reason Joan had the kids in the first place was to use them as human barriers between herself and Jack Kinney. If Brian wasn't available only then did Joan and Claire become the primary targets. All other times it was Brian. But he couldn't say any of this without getting his own tongue cut out.

He had no idea what Brian had done to piss off the Hobbs family and he knew for Craig Taylor it was because of Kinney's relationship with his son which was a little confusing since from what he knew, Taylor disowned his son. By all accounts, Kinney had put the young man through school and gave him a place to stay. He knew all about the fiasco of former Chief Stockwell's campaign as did everyone else in the Pittsburgh Metropolitan area but there was no question, Brian had pissed off some really rich people with equally dangerous friends. Everything in him wanted to warn Brian of the impending danger but when he wasn't in the bank, he was followed. He knew that all of his phones were tapped. The worst was not knowing where his sons were. It had been more than three weeks since John and Peter had been visible anywhere, including Liberty Avenue. He used to take comfort in seeing them around town from time to time although he never approached them. He'd been too afraid of what poison his ex-wife and her vicious mother had been saying about him in his absence and he wasn't prepared to deal with the fallout from the misunderstanding or misconception of why he wasn't around.

A series of five pings in succession from his computer caught his attention. He flipped through each one revealing the astronomical amounts of money from both Brian Kinney and Justin Taylor's business and personal accounts. "Fuck. I did it," he said as he continued to stare at the screen.