Chapter 2
"Yes, Security? This is Judge Gray.Yes, I'm still having problems. No, I haven't been attacked. My CSO, Bruce Van Exel, has gone missing. Yes, I'm sure he's missing. I was in the ladies' room and when I came out, he was gone. No, he wouldn't have just left! He was supposed to be keeping an eye out for any strange activity! Look, can you send someone from Security down here? I'm concerned for Br-Mr. Van Exel's safety and for my own. Thank you."
She hung up the phone and began pacing her office. Was this vandal really after Bruce? What had Bruce ever done to upset anyone? He was one of the most even-tempered people she had ever met. Unless...
Amy's hand flew to her mouth in realization. "Oh my God," she muttered, and at that moment, someone knocked at the door.
She could feel her heart beating in overtime as she called out, "I've called Security."
"This is Security, Judge Gray," a voice sounded.
Amy let out the breath she was holding and rushed to the door, unlocking it and allowing the same security guard as earlier to enter. "My CSO, Bruce Van Exel..."
"We know, Judge Gray," the guard shushed her. "We've got a crew out searching for him. Now, I need you to remain calm and answer a few questions." Amy nodded. "Did you hear anything out of the ordinary while you were in the bathroom?"
Amy thought for a moment. "No. No, the bathrooms are kinda echoey, so I couldn't hear anything outside the room."
The guard continued to ask her questions as her mind wandered to where Bruce was, if he was hurt, and why this attacker had chose to target him, taking the one person outside her family that meant the most to her.
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Bruce glared up at the man who had abducted him. He would have told him off, but his abductor had slapped a piece of duct tape over his mouth, literally rendering him speechless.
The abductor had taken him to an abandoned room in the basement of the courthouse – a gutsy move, since once Amy discovered Bruce missing, she would surely call security and they'd be all over the place searching for her.
The light flickered off as the abductor crept back to Bruce's side.
"You know why you're here, Mr. Van Exel?" he asked Bruce, then laughed. "Oh, right. You can't talk at the moment. Well, let me elaborate. I've seen you and that pretty lady judge, Amy, I believe her name is. You can't tell me your relationship with her is strictly professional. I've seen the way you two look at each other, how you put your hand on the small of her back when you're walking through the halls." Bruce continued to glare at the man, even though neither one of them could see the other in the dark room. "And since she took something important from me, I'm going to do the same to her."
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Amy sat at her desk, tapping her fingers on the surface. The security guard glanced back at her from where he was standing by the door. "I should be out there, helping look for Bruce. I'm not doing anyone any good by sitting here."
"Judge Gray, if this guy really is after you, here is the best place you can be. We'll find Mr. Van Exel." He turned back to the door adn Amy slumped back in her chair, feeling defeated and helpless.
It was one of those situations where she didn't realize how much Bruce meant to her until he was gone. She shook her head. She took him for granted, she realized that. She just expected him to be there, whether it was sitting beside her in the courtroom, filing her docket and giving her advice, even when she didn't ask for it, or when she was suffering from some personal crisis, a break-up, an illness in the family, or just when she needed to vent. He was always there for her, without asking for anything in return.
Amy suddenly stood from her desk. "I can't just sit here," she announced.
The guard turned to face her again. "Judge Gray, we have the most experienced security team..."
"I know," Amy said, "and I have the utmost faith in all of you. But this is something I need to do out of a personal conviction."
The security guard sighed. "Alright, but you're not going unattended."
Amy smiled smugly. "I wouldn't expect you'd let me." She walked to the door, and the guard led them through the hallway, keeping a watchful eye out for any unusual activity.
As they were walking, the guard's radio suddenly buzzed at him, announcing someone was trying to contact him. He quickly removed the radio from his belt loop and pressed the power button. "What's going on?" he demanded.
"We've got some unusually dark rooms down in the basement," the voice on the other end announced. Amy's eyes widened. "We're gonna check 'em out."
"Alright, thanks for the update." He turned the radio off again and shoved it back in its holder before turning back to Amy, who still had the look of a deer in the headlights.
"Let's go," she said, heading toward the elevators.
"Judge Gray, there's a right way to go about this," the guard insisted, jogging to catch up to her. "We can't just burst in down there. This guy may be armed. We don't need to put your CSO in any more danger than he's already in."
"Well, I'm not just gonna be calm about this whole thing," Amy insisted. "Whoever this mentally deranged person is, he's got Bruce, and I'm not going to stand idly by and watch 'my CSO' get killed."
"We understand, Judge Gray," the guard attempted to soothe her again, while she continued to impatiently wait for the elevator to arrive. "We're not expecting you to act like none of this even happened. We just think it's better if you let us do our jobs and you do yours."
"Which is what?" Amy asked, frustrated. "Sitting around waiting for something to happen? I can tell you right now that I didn't get my job here by sitting on my ass. And that's not how I'm going to handle this. Besides, I should be safe, right? You're going to be there the entire time. So what's the problem?"
The elevator finally arrived and Amy walked in, turning and waiting for the guard to join her in the car. He did so with a sigh, and they rode down to the basement, Bruce's fate the thought on both their minds.
