Full Summary:

A soldier under Colonel Burton's command goes AWOL and is nowhere to be found. Thinking she skipped so she wouldn't have to go on deployment, Colonel Burton alerts the local police about what is going on. What happens when Pamela and Boone come across a website showing the AWOL soldier and others? Will the Army be able to find the island that the game is being held on? And will the soldier still be alive when they finally do find the island and shut the game down? Will those in charge of the game be punished when they are caught?

AWOL:

Ft. Marshal Post:

Anna Marcia Harrow was a Corporal in the Army stationed at Fort Marshal. She had gone through Basic Training and gone through two deployments before being stationed at Fort Marshal under Colonel Burton. But what most people would think as a lazy soldier that went AWOL, Corporal Harrow's parents know better. She would never go AWOL on her own. Something had to have gone wrong for her not to get back on the Post when she was supposed to especially with a deployment coming up.

Colonel Burton went to Pamela Moran and her partner Boone once it was clear that Cpl. Harrow had missed the deployment and was AWOL. She had told them to let her know if anything came up about Cpl. Harrow and to contact her immediately if the Cpl. was brought into the station for any reason. But it wouldn't be for some months that anyone knew what was really happening. It happened by accident, the suspect they had just arrested in a viral video voyeur ring had asked if he could get some leniency with the information he had.

Pamela and Boone were with the Detectives when the suspect got onto the website where the game was being shown on. He logged in under his account and showed them the contestants. The pictures of the twenty-four contestants were all ex-cons except one. Pamela asked if he would mind coming with them onto the Army Post and showing this to the Generals and Colonels to see if they could possibly find the place where the game was being held. He said he wouldn't mind, since a few years ago, his son had been taken by these men and forced to do exactly what the others will be forced to do as well.

They left CPD and headed onto Ft. Marshal. Once at the 23rd Airborne's Headquarters, they were escorted in to see General Holden, Colonel Sherwood and Colonel Burton, who was Cpl. Harrow's CO. Boone uncuffed the man and sat him down at the computer and told him to get onto the website and not to do anything else.

"Pamela, what's going on? Why did you and Boone bring a prisoner to Ft. Marshal and have him sitting at General Holden's computer?" Colonel Burton asked.

"Because, we found Cpl. Harrow, though she won't be coming home anytime soon. This man showed us what she is being forced to do and what others are as well. We know that she is somewhere in either the south pacific or South America on one of the many islands, we just don't know which one exactly. According to Gary here, these games have been going on for years. His own son was taken a few years ago and forced to do the same things that Cpl. Harrow and the new batch of contestants are being for to do."

"And that would be what exactly?" Colonel Sherwood asked.

"Kill of course. They sent me my son's decapitated body after he failed to win the game. In the game, the objective is to survive, so you either win by killing the other contestants, or you die by not being fast enough. I only hope that your Corporal is fast enough and skilled enough to win the game. And maybe, just maybe, get out of this whole mess alive."

"Is the site up and running Gary?" Boone asked.

"Yes it is. And I have you under my account seeing as I'll probably be sitting in a jail cell after this little adventure anyways. Here are the passwords; I've paid for the whole thing. I keep watching it just in case someone else from around here went missing. When I heard about the AWOL solider, I paid this year's subscription and sure enough there she was. There were twenty-four contestants when the game started near a week ago. There are twelve contestants left. Your soldier seems to be still alive. So either she's killed to stay one step ahead of everyone, or she has found a place to stay alive and undetected. If that's so, she'll definitely be alive when you try and find this place. If you need any help, my daughter is a pretty good hacker, works for the US government looking up criminals that can't figure out how to stay out of trouble. I could give her a call and let her know you need her skills."

"Is she in any form of military?" General Holden asked.

"She was in the Navy for a few years but got out when they wouldn't let her help find the people that took her brother. Her commanding officer said it wasn't important enough. Turns out the CO was wrong cause his body was found a week after she decided not to re-up. She'll want to help with this, you can bet on that."

"Alright, give her a call and get her down here. We're going to need all the help we can get." General Clark said. He'd been sitting in on the conversation as well, though he hadn't said anything until now.

"Oh and this Corporal of yours, she might be able to help as well. She's been leaving small messages unbeknownst to the game keepers in front of the cameras that might tell you where to find the island."

"Guess she knows what she's really doing. Are all of these cameras online now?" Pamela asked.

"They don't need to be online, they aren't recording anything. The cameras show what is happening in real life right now. You can see for yourself that the cameras are live. The time stamps tell you that they are showing what is going on in real life. Whoever these people are, they've been able to get away with this for years. Probably other soldiers that went AWOL (well some of them anyways) might have been grabbed by whoever these guys are."

"He's got a point. Alright Gary, back to CPD with you. You still have other crimes you need to answer to, like the whole voyeur thing." Boone said grabbing Gary up from the computer and handcuffing him once more.

"We'll be in touch later Joan, let you know what his daughter says. If she agrees and comes down, I'll drive her onto Post myself. This shouldn't be allowed to continue anymore."

"You've got that right. We'll see you later Pamela. And thank you both for this. At least now we know she really isn't AWOL."

"Just don't take her off the AWOL list just yet. Let them think that we don't know what is going on. Let them think we still think she is AWOL so they won't have any reason to kill her straight out."

"We weren't planning on taking her off the AWOL list. Alright, see the two of you later; we have some work to do!"

The Island:

One week, that's how long they had had me. One week, that's how long the killings had been going on. I had found a place outside of camera range that would allow me at least some peace and comfort to stay alive. There was a cave inside one of the many cliffs that I tended to stay in. I found out that the other contestants weren't all criminals, most were just ordinary people taken from their homes to play this disgusting game, if you could call it a game at all. There were at least three people that joined her fight. She hadn't been able to get the others to join. They were too intent on staying alive that they never even thought about just hiding out till helped arrived.

I had put the word around that I was still in the Army and had done two tours in Iraq to help my cause. Three soon turned into six, which soon turned into the rest of the contestants still alive. If we were going to hold out till help arrived, we would need to do so where there were no cameras around. So while the game keepers were scrambling to find out where we had gone, we were coming up with a plan that would make it look like we were fighting each other but were really helping those that were looking for me to find us faster.

Sure some of us would have to be injured, but there was no more out right killing anymore. I fashioned weapons out of materials that we had been able to glean from the land. I'd had a military K-bar knife on me when I disappeared so I was using that to make wooden traps that wouldn't kill but would injure. Then the injured player was moved back to the cave and someone else was sent out to try and 'find' the injured player. We had turned the tides on them and they were still under the impression that they had control of the game.

Every time I was near a camera or any of us were near a camera, we would leave little signals or messages telling those that were watching what was really going on. I knew some Latin and also knew that if the Army was watching now, that they would understand the messages in Latin and come straight away. And so we went about, staying one step ahead of those that had tried to get us to kill one another. Now all we had to do was stay staying one step ahead of those that would have us kill each other.

And we had to pray that whoever was looking for us would get here and get here soon.