His True Intentions

Chapter 1- A Friend in Need

My phone buzzed across the counter from me, so I grabbed it. I didn't recognize the number, but I answered it anyways. "Hello, Peter." A young woman whose voice was slightly familiar greeted me.

"Hello, who is this?"

"It's Rachel, Olivia's sister."

"Oh," I didn't know what to say. We had only spoken twice before, "What's up?"

"I'm sorry. I know it's kind of weird for me to call you so late at night, but I need to talk to someone. And since Olivia is busy, and the only name in her phonebook at home I knew was yours, I called you. I hope you don't mind, I just really need to talk to someone."

She seemed desperate to let something out, so I didn't hold her back. "It's okay. What's wrong?"

"It's my ex-husband. He came to the apartment this afternoon and threatened to take Ella away from me. I don't know what to do. When we divorced, he told me that he wanted me to take Ella with me, but now he wants her back. He still has partial custody of her, so he can take her whenever he wants to. I can't let him take her. He's not a good man. He'll hurt her." By now I could here her trying to hold back a stream of tears.

"Have you talked to Child Protective Services yet?"

"No, I'm afraid that before they could have the chance to revoke his custody, he'd already have her. He doesn't care about the law. He'll take her no matter what."

"Do you know where he's staying?"

"I think he's staying at a hotel in the area, but I couldn't tell you which one."

"I can track him down if you want. What's his name?"

"Gregory Helbling."

"Okay, so, I'm going to help you. I can't do anything about this right now, but I will tomorrow. In the meantime, you need to stay as far away from him as possible. Do you know anyone who lives near you?"

"No, what are you planning on doing to him?"

"Don't worry about that; just stay inside for now."

"I'll just play with Ella. Thank you, Peter."

"Call me if you need anything."

"I will. Bye."

"Bye." I felt her pain and I knew that if I confronted this man, he would most likely leave her alone from then on. I had done this before and was willing to do it again, especially for a person who was close to someone I cared about as much as I care about Olivia. I continued to work on the project I had been working on prior to the call until midnight, when I decided to head back to the hotel. I gathered up my supplies and brought them to my car, which was parked in the closest spot to Harvard's front entrance. There were quite a lot of supplies needed for this project, so it took a few trips to put it all in my trunk. I drove straight home and had to be quiet so I wouldn't wake up Walter.

"Peter, is that you?" He was in bed but was still awake.

"Walter, why are you still awake?"

"I couldn't sleep knowing you weren't here."

"Well, I'm here now, so please go to sleep."

I subconsciously felt a tap on my shoulder, but I wasn't ready to wake up, so I shrugged it off. "Peter." Walter whispered too close to my ear, and then repeated much louder. "Peter."

"What!" I yelled with little enthusiasm.

"Wake up; we must get to the lab." He was far too excited for how early in the morning it was.

"Fine," I complained as I threw off the covers. I remembered my promise to Rachel, "Hey, Walter, I need to go somewhere before I go to the lab. I'll just meet you there."

"How will I get to the lab?"

"Oh, right. I'll call Olivia and ask if she can come pick you up." I looked at the clock and saw it was 7:25. I hoped I wouldn't be waking her up.

"Hello." She spoke softy.

"Hey, it's Peter. I hope I didn't wake you."

"Nope, I've been up for a few minutes. What's up?"

"I was wondering if you can pick up Walter and take him to the lab. I have to make a few stops and I don't think he'll want to come with me."

"Sure. No problem. Tell him I'll be there soon."

"Thanks, I'll see you soon. Bye."

"Bye."

I pulled on some clothes and headed for the door. "Olivia is on her way." I headed off to the Federal Building to check what hotel Brian was staying at. This would be a far quicker way to figure out than going to every single hotel and motel in Boston. All the Federal employees had gotten used to me being around, and a few of them even greeted me as I walked to an empty computer. It didn't take long to find his location; he was at a motel five blocks from Olivia's apartment. I drove to the motel and wasn't surprised to see very few surveillance cameras and only one employee running the entire motel.

The parking lot was small and only held two cars; one for the employee and the other had to be Brian's. I decided to wait outside for a few minutes in case he came out to his car. Three minutes later, he stepped out of the front door and headed to his car. As he was unlocking his vehicle, I quietly walked up behind him. "Hello, Sir. Are you Greg Helbling?"

He turned around, "Yeah, who are you?"

Instead of answering, I grabbed the collar of his shirt and shoved his back against the side of his car. "I'm going to tell you this one time, and one time only. Stay away from Rachel Dunham."

"And what if I don't?"

"Sir, I work for the FBI, ever heard of it. Don't think for one second that I won't arrest you if you ever threaten her again." Only a half-truth. I sort of work for the FBI, but the only kind of arrest I could make would be a citizen's arrest, same as every other citizen.

"You don't look much like a Federal agent. Mind showing me your badge?" Since I didn't actually have a badge, I had to come back at him without hesitation. Fortunately, I'm pretty good at that kind of thing. "Don't ever speak to me like that. Just stay away from her." And with that I let go of him and walked away.