Authors Note: Here is the second chapter, I'm sorry it took a while to finish it but I had couple of troubles with some scenes that didn't make sense. Anyway, enough about that. I hope you enjoy the chapter. Thanks to P.J. Murphy for helping me making this chapter work. Please leave reviews. Thanks

Not Following You

May 25th, 2032 01:22 AM Carmichael house: Bedroom

Chuck opened his bedroom door after returning from his meeting with the President. He was exhausted after speaking with him for hours about some new contracts. He saw Sarah sobbing on her side of the bed holding a phone is her hand, in her other hand she's holding the latest picture of their kids. He felt heartache seeing his wife like this. When he left this morning, Sarah was in a good mood, even if still was mad at Mary for lying about Max.

Why is she sobbing? "Sarah...?" he asked timidly.

She turned around and her sad eyes looked into Chuck's. He sat down beside his wife and gently wiped the tears from her face. He had never seen Sarah in this catatonic state before; she was usually the strong one. Like the last time Stephen fell off of his bike. Chuck was a mess, but Sarah had total control over the situation. To see his wife like this terrified him.

"Chuck...Mary is missing." She pressed the picture against her chest. "What if she is gone forever…thinking…I don't love her?"

Sarah looked pleadingly at Chuck, but he didn't know how to respond to her question. He took her in his arms and held on tightly.

"Baby, she knows that you love her," he gently whispered into her ear as Sarah continued to cry. Chuck took the phone and the photograph out of Sarah's trembling hands and held onto her. Eventually her tears faded and her breathing fell into a pattern of long breaths. Chuck gently lay her down on the bed, lingering for a moment to feel her cheek against his. He whispered he loved her and started to get up from the bed to pull the covers over her.

Suddenly, both of them were startled by the doorbell. Chuck was torn between staying with his wife or opening up the door, but he didn't want Stephen to be disturbed, as he was a very light sleeper. He didn't want Stephen waking up and seeing his mother in this state.

"I'll see what they want, Sarah," he said quietly. Sarah nodded, and Chuck went downstairs to answer the door.

Chuck was greeted by his sister with the same catatonic look as his wife. He let his sobbing sister in and gently steered her into the kitchen, where most of their family discussions had occurred over the years.

"El, what are you doing here?"

Ellie looked at Chuck, and it hurt him to see her sister in this kind of state. She tried to say something but nothing came out of her mouth.

"Chuck, who was it?"

Sarah appeared in the door frame, and her demeanor was completed different when she saw the state Ellie was in. Suddenly Sarah looked like she did during her time as an agent. A comforting hug seemed to do the trick as Ellie started to talk.

"They just called. Clara is missing, and they are hoping she will activate her emergency transponder so they can track her."

Both Sarah and Chuck had the same expression; they finally understood who Clara was guarding: their own daughter.

"Ellie, Mary is also missing. We assume that Clara is on Mary's security detail," Chuck replied.

Ellie looked at her brother and sister-in-law and suddenly felt guilty about sitting in their house and sobbing when their daughter was captured by some evil person. She was about to apologize for her behavior, but the door opened and John Casey entered. He looked ready to go to war, but a glimmer of hope could be seen in his eyes.

"Clara's transponder is on and Lester has gone missing again. He stole his mother's car and she is a mess...never understood that kid. I've done everything for him, but he doesn't seem to care about anyone besides himself…"

Casey bit off his lip and refocused himself. "Before I forget, have any of you seen my emergency ID?"

Suddenly emboldened by Casey's report, both Sarah and Chuck rose from their stools but get stopped by Casey. "You two haven't been on active duty for nearly twenty years. You will only slow us down."

Sarah pushed Casey away and ran from the kitchen, Chuck looked lost. He was desperate to help them find his daughter, but he also knew Sarah wasn't emotionally fit to do that. He was fearful she would do something stupid, and the look Casey gave him let him know he agreed. Chuck left the kitchen to find his wife.

May 24th, 2032 07:13 PM Santa Monica Freeway

A red Beetle drove alone on the freeway as the sun sat placidly just over the horizon. The only sound could be heard from the car's electric engine. In the car sat a boy and a girl. The girl was smiling and the boy looked straight at the road to keep control of the vehicle. The girl didn't notice the tense look on his face, nor did she catch his grip on the steering wheel tightening when she touched his knee.

Mary was happy for the first time in a long time. She was on her way to her prom with her boyfriend and her mother seemed to be content with Max taking her there. The fact none of her bodyguards were here to escort them made her even happier. It would have been impossible to enjoy any pre-prom activities without worrying about them seeing something she didn't want them reporting. She heard lots of stories about this day from her friends and she wanted to fully enjoy it. Max and she had been dating for 4 months, but they had been friends since freshman year. Her sister would have told her that it was better to wait if she knew what she planned to do, but Ellie didn't wait so why should Mary do that? And Mary is also fairly certain that she loves him, so why wait when this moment is the perfect one?

Everything depended on her mothers' reaction and she was pleasantly surprised by her reaction. If her mother accepted him, he was a good guy. No one could fool her mother for long and she trusted her mother's 'spy sense,' even if she still was a bit angry with her. On the other hand, both her sister and best friend weren't that happy about her relationship with Max. Ellie's standard answer to why she didn't like Max was that something felt 'off' with him. Les often used the fact Max's father was in the Navy as an explanation to why Mary shouldn't date him. She took that more as a joke than anything serious. Les was a joker and never took things too seriously.

Could they be envious of her, or was there really something wrong with Max? She knew both of them didn't want Max to break her heart. But she was tired of being coddled and overprotected. She thought she had to face it on her own and let the chips fall where they may. When she talked to Les yesterday about what she might do, he seemed to understand she had finally decided to go through with it. He even told her about a perfect place he went when he hid from his mother whenever she had one of her 'moods'. He told her he could prepare it so it would be romantic.

"Max, what do you say about taking another route to school?"

Max looked at her and smiled. "Is that really what you want?"

Mary smiled shyly and squeezed Max's free hand. "I know the perfect place."

Mary pointed out the exit and they left the freeway, turning onto a small and dark county road.

A mile back, Clara tailed the red Beetle, not risking the chance of being closer and subject to being spotted by her target. Since she couldn't be certain the Mary was wearing her passive tracking device, she turned her own on. The covert officer's best friend, every asset under covert surveillance had this piece of equipment on their person. Usually it was a piece of jewelry…necklaces and bracelets were popular…the signal from the tracker could only be decrypted by the covert officer assigned to them, who was also the only one who could turn it on or off. One of CI latest inventions, Clara was one of the first who got to use it. Having eyes on both the tracker and the road was difficult, but it was something she had to learn to do. Fortunately, she learned from the best instructor in the entire intelligence community…

December 9th, 2027 12:17 PM Walker High

Clara was really excited; she was chosen for the D-test, a test on par with the toughest evasive and pursuit driving courses offered on The Farm. She passed her test from the DMV already and would soon get her own driver's license. This test was one of the test that determined what type of agent she could be. Not everyone would be eligible to serve on the Level 1 Elite squads or even the other Level 2 Advanced squads. Uncle Casey was the head of the best squad, which she had dubbed the A-Team. Uncle Casey laughed when she told him the nickname she gave his team, which must have been one of those jokes only he understood. She wasn't that interested to work on the Level 1 Elite groups; she was more into protecting people and was pretty sure she would apply to the Security Division when she graduated. Most of the graduates did serve some time there if they didn't do really good on their tests.

Clara sat down and the simulation began; computer simulations were used on many tests. Her mission was to follow a car without being noticed. The car she tailed had a tracking device to give the location, but the trick was to use both the tracker and her own eyesight in tandem, since tracker wasn't always accurate. But tracking the car was only half the battle; the simulation lasted several hours, and many students failed the test because they ran out of patience and tried to make something happen, only to be spotted by the target car. She bid her time, coming close to being spotted more than once. But after three hours, she came out of the test with the highest score ever. All of her friends started screaming and hugging her, as it was a big moment for everyone in her group. It was not everyday someone set a record on one of the hardest tests Langley had to offer.

May 24th, 2032 07:45 PM Cabin 202

"Max…M-Max I can't, I can't…"

Mary huffed quietly out of frustration and quickly got off the bed covered in rose petals, already regretting how hard she wrenched Max's hand out from under her skirt. This was all her idea…the rose petals on the bed, the room bathed in candlelight…and she couldn't go through with it. She looked down in shame as she fixed her outfit. She led him on, she unbuttoned his shirt, she put his hands on her breasts, but the alarm bells went off in her head, and she realized what she thought she wanted was really the last thing she wanted.

Max slowly walked over to her side of the bed. He took her hand but made no attempt to continue what they were doing. "It's OK. Let me go to the bathroom, and then we'll drive to the prom."

He walked out of the room and Mary started cleaning the rose petals from the bed, thankful she didn't try to spread them out all over the room. She had them in her bag in under a minute and set about to extinguishing the candles. She heard footsteps and assumed Max was exiting the bathroom. She didn't anticipate hearing a quick 'whoosh'. By the time she could react to something hitting her on the back of the neck, she lost consciousness and fell onto the bed.

A man stepped out of the shadows clad in all black attire, smiling as he looked at Mary. She's so beautiful, even when she's asleep, he thought. He could only fantasize what it would be like to lie next to her every night. He picked Mary up in his arms, thankful he spent all of that time exercising at the gym. It made carrying her to the cellar in the cabin that much easier.

He gently put Mary down on the ground as he produced a key to open the padlock on the door to the cellar. He prepared it days ago for HIS Mary. He rehearsed this action several times so he wouldn't have to turn the lights on as he carried her downstairs and placed her on the chair he moved in there. He tied her up in the chair and made sure the special light he prepared for this was in the correct position. Everything was prepared; he even scrubbed and cleaned the cellar within an inch of its life so it would have a pleasant smell.

Mary stirred in the chair and opened her eyes, only to be blinded and succumb to dizziness. Where is Max? She struggled against her restraints and tried to ascertain who was in the room. However, the room only got darker and anybody in it was a mere silhouette to her.

He dimmed the lights on purpose; he couldn't stand the thought of seeing her clearly when he knew what he had to do to her. It was easier that way; he could imagine it was a dream, a dream that began four months ago that culminated tonight.

There was a beep on his mobile phone. He knew who it was from, as they were the only ones who knew this number. He read the message contentedly; everything was going according to plan.

Fifteen minutes later and not far from the couple in the cabin, Clara found the same exit her charges took. Mary's tracker had been in the same location for the past fifteen minutes, and Clara tried to figure out what was going on. They couldn't have stopped for something to eat, since there wasn't a restaurant within miles. Could they have gotten a flat tire? she thought, which didn't exactly make her feel better. Even Clara could sympathize with someone in that predicament. All she knew was Mary's tracker had been stationary for fifteen minutes and she wanted to know why.

Clara spotted another car in the distance blocking the road, or at least it appeared to be doing that. She stopped her car and took out her binoculars. The car appeared to be Max's, but the licenses plates were gone. The car was placed perfectly; it was impossible to get around it because the road dropped off on both sides. Checking the tracker again, Clara confirmed Mary was definitely not in the car. Now Clara was beginning to panic. Why would they leave the car on the middle of the road and then walk to whatever place they wanted to go?

She tried to call for backup, but she couldn't get any mobile phone coverage. She opened the glove box to take out her tranq gun. It was her weapon of choice, even though some of the agents she trained with saw that choice of weapon as a sign of weakness. But she knew better. Killing might be easier, but when you knew little about your current situation, it sometimes led to more dire circumstances.

Sneaking up on a car and opening it without making any noise wasn't easy under normal circumstances; approaching a car in designer boots situated on a road made of gravel was damn near impossible. Clara could feel her blood pulsing through her veins as she tried to assess the situation. Her entire focus was on the car. That was her mistake. She never saw the dark figure approach her from behind with a gun aimed at her. Clara heard the whooshing sound of the gun, but it wasn't enough time for her to react...and everything went black.

The dark figure loomed over her; its gloved hands searched for something on Clara's body. The figure found what it was looking for and disappeared, letting the body remain on the road. He then took out his mobile phone to send a message.

It's done. Found only one agent. I'm on my way, will be at HQ after I get rid of the car. L.

The man walked towards Clara's car, catching a glimpse of the agent's face for the first time. It made him jump back in surprise; he wasn't expecting her, and she always intimidated the hell out of him. Even now, a small part of him expected her to get up and attack. He felt a bit silly, but it motivated him to get far away from here. He found the tracking device in the car and decided to take it with him. He drives only a few miles away and takes the gallon of gasoline he brought with him. He doused the car in the dangerous substance, broke open a flare, and tossed it into the car. As the car became engulfed in flames, he could only hope the smoke would reach far enough for someone to see it.

May 24th, 2032 05:55 PM Walker Street

He used to hide in the bushes to see her getting ready for school; he followed her everywhere he could. He sat on the stool she sat on, he drove the same route she did, and he couldn't takes his eyes off of her. She was the girl of his life, but she never noticed him the way he wanted. They had known each other for a while, and he had loved her for as long as he knew her.

He wanted her to adore him just like he adored her; he wanted to be the sun in her solar system. But that wasn't the case. He was happy the few times she caught his eye and smiled at him, but it wasn't enough for him. Not even the occasional stolen kiss. He wanted the whole package.

His entire day was about her. When he didn't see her, he worked out and studied and thought about her. In a way, it was a good cover, as his mother and his uncle praised his grades and how he stayed in shape. It was to impress Mary, but it wasn't the only reason he did it. The thought of succeeding in something his father never did was what he really wanted. His hatred of his father was almost as strong as his love for her.

But this was the day, the day everything would happen. After this day Mary would be his forever. He spent four months working on his plan, ever since that one day. He was proud of his achievement; from the little awkward boy in elementary school to this man that everyone loved. It was time for him to get his prize...

May 24th, 2032 08:00 PM Undisclosed Location

Mary was terrified. Where is Max?

She sat alone in the dark room and she couldn't remember anything after he left. She said she couldn't do it, and for the first time in four years she wanted to have her mother here to comfort her. She started to cry, thinking that she never would see her family again. Her knowledge of abduction was pretty extensive for a high schooler. With all of the terrifying stories she heard during her childhood, she knew exactly what would happen to her. Someone was after information about her father and they will beat her until they get the information they want. But she didn't know anything about her father's business, they took the wrong girl.

She looked down at her father's birthday present to her when she turned fourteen a bracelet which she never took off. Something about this bracelet had always amazed Mary, it was water-resistant. In fact, she once spilled some wine on it and it still looked the same. Her father told her it was one of his newest inventions and something he was really proud of. She never thought her father was so into jewelry, but this one was the most beautiful pieces of jewelry she ever laid eyes on. Her sister, Ellie, also received a similar bracelet but in another color, while her little brother, Stephen, just got something similar at Christmas. Stephen's was not a bracelet; it was a silver chain with the CI emblem on it, but she knew it was made of the same material and it really suited him.

Her tears subsided; she had faith in her family that they will find her. She just needed to believe that and stall her captor for as long as possible to give them the time they need.

Mary's captor looks at her through a two-way mirror he had set up for this moment. He couldn't get over how beautiful she was, even if her face was blotched from the crying. He didn't like to see her cry, but it was necessary for the plan to work.

It was time for the next phase. He picked up the voice distorter and turned on the speakers hidden in the room.

"Maryyyy, you will do exactly what I say or you will die."

Mary looked around to find the source of the voice but was not successful, nor could she recognize the voice. Yet something in the back of her mind found a familiarity to it.

-May 24th, 2032 09:00 PM Undisclosed Location

She was once again tied up; her captor having undone her ropes to do his bidding. Mary felt violated and scared. She was wrong about what her captor wanted. He wasn't interested in her father's company; he was interested in HER. The high pitched laugh still haunted her when he reacted to her demand to tell here where Max was. She was scared for herself, but she was even more scared about what this bastard was doing to him. This monster seemed to know what he was doing and took perverse pleasure in making her frightened.

She remembered the stories she heard when her mothers' friends were visiting, to try do make her stronger. She needed to take control over the situation and the key to doing that was to use herself. Even though the thought made her ill, she knew she needed to do something in order to find Max.

"MARY...it's time for you to eat...do NOT force me to feed you."

A dark clad man appeared in the room, Mary couldn't recognize him, the man's face being obscured by a mask and sunglasses. Mary contemplated her captor might be someone she knew. The man untied her hands, and she had a sudden urge to bounce up and attack. That was quashed by the gun pointed at her face.

"Don't try anything stupid. You will be dead before you get anywhere."

The man put a plate of food next to her and backed away while still pointing the gun at her. Seeing him with more light allowed Mary to notice a few things about him. He was built like Max, but the man was in disguise and could be anyone. At least she knew it was a man, as not many girls were built that way.

May 24th, 2032 10:00 PM Undisclosed location

After another session of Simon Says, with her captor playing a very sadistic Simon, she felt so tired. All her muscles were strained and she felt like her eyes would pop out of her head. Mary had never felt so weak.

How could they have been captured for months and survive?

She had a newfound respect for her mother and her friends who swapped war stories similar to the one she was experiencing now. These three hours felt like a lifetime and she was angry at herself for not being able to be stronger.

I'm a Bartowski for crying out loud!

This shouldn't have been this hard. She tried to think about her family and all the good times she had with them. It helped her relax and she felt her strength coming back. With her eyes closed, she could see the beach where she spent a lot of her childhood. She focused on one particular day six years ago when her best friend, Les, was with them.

Mary and Ellie played in the water and little Stephen sat in a puddle of water at the shore with some of his cousins. Mary was happy they were finally here. It took longer this year because her baby brother got carsick. Not far from her was her best friend swimming underwater to try to catch her. She pretended not to notice him sneaking up behind her, as it was part of her devious plan. In the exact right moment Mary dove under the water and attacked him. Both of them resurfaced, Mary laughing in victory over the vanquished Les. But Ellie decided that wasn't how it should end, grabbing Mary and throwing her into the water, helping Les in order to tip the scales in their favor. All three were laughing as the attacks on each other continued, although tickling someone until they couldn't breathe didn't exactly fall under the standard definition of an attack.

On a blanket not far away from little Stephen sat Sarah, Chuck, and their extended family, which now included Les' mother, who sat next to Casey. Her once-beautiful face was pale, having been marred by so much sorrow. Casey had tried to help her since her husband walked away from her and was like a surrogate father for Les. Sarah and Ellie kept their eyes on the kids like usual. Ellie's maternal instinct made her worry about Clara when she didn't see her in the water. Of course, sixteen hardly qualified as being a little child anymore, but that didn't mean a mother couldn't worry about her. She turned and saw Clara talking to her favourite uncle, computers undoubtedly being the subject. To the outside observer, one would have guessed Clara to be Chuck and Sarah's daughter. Although Clara bore a resemblance to her mother, albeit with her father's eyes, her choice of career mirrored that of her aunt and uncle rather than her physician parents. She remembered when she was younger all of the stories of the exciting stuff her grandmother had done. Then, when her uncle founded CI and later built his own city, she finally got a chance to try out the life of an agent. When it was time to choose high school, she chose Walker High, a newly-founded high school where here aunt was the principal. Both her parents weren't fond of her choosing that route, but after some discussion they finally agreed to let her. She loved her time there.

Clara smiled at her cousins in the water; both of them always enjoyed their time here. Suddenly, her smile was frozen when she caught a flash of something not so sinister in Les' eye.

A small smile graced Mary's lips from remembering that day at the beach, but it also got her to thinking about her cousin. When she was younger she was a bit afraid of her, but the year before high school they started to talk more and they got friendlier. But she hadn't seen Clara since her graduation party. That always made Mary sad, even though she knew Clara was doing something important for her uncle's company.

He looked at her again; he couldn't help himself. Even with the cracked lip…which he regretted giving her but she was asking for it…she was still the prettiest girl he have laid his eyes on. Her eyes were still welled up from all of the crying she had done. He felt a tinge of guilt, but he was really starting to enjoy this. He'd give her an order and then she did exactly what he said. He was like a puppet master, although he hadn't asked her to do exactly what he really wanted yet. It was best to wait and do it at the end.

But it wasn't how he wanted this to go in his mind. The worst part was that he didn't mean to fall for her. Now all of this stuff he had to do felt a lot worse than he imagined it to be.

May 25th, 2032 01:27 AM On the county road

Where am I?

Clara struggled to move, her head pounding like a jackhammer and her body felt sore all over. She opened her eyes and looked up at the star-filled sky. Suddenly she remembered the car and tried to stand up on her wobbling legs. It took her a few steps before her legs worked properly, during which time she took a look around. The road was quiet and she didn't see either Max's car or her own.

Oh, no. They're really after Mary.

She looked through her pockets but couldn't find either her mobile phone or her tracker. They must have taken it with her car. She only had one choice now: activate the emergency beacon. She activated it, hoping someone on her team was at headquarters and keeping an ear open. CI had an extensive security system. Everyone was issued an emergency beacon, but only a few people could access the GPS system within them. That was Clara's advantage. They may have taken her beacon, but they wouldn't know what activating it would really do. The emergency beacon Mary had wouldn't be detectable, and only Clara could activate it. She could only hope the cavalry was on its way.

May 25th, 2032 01:30 AM Undisclosed Location

Something was blinking on the tracker he took from the agent. He hadn't succeeded yet in cracking the password but he could access some of the base commands. He took a quick sweep of the area and then looked at the tracker again. It finally dawned on him that an emergency transponder had been activated. The location of the signal wasn't from the cabin; he assumed it was from the agent who surely was now awake.

He was starting to regret their plan. Killing the agent might have been a better option, but they had decided it wasn't necessary.

May 25th, 2032 02:00 AM Undisclosed location

Mary heard the door break open and her eyes focused on the intruder. She expected her captor to return. Whom she saw instead was both a shock and a relief.

"Les, is it really you?"

"What are you doing here?" Les asked her in surprise

"Where am I?"

Les untied her, and Mary wiped away some of her tears.

"You know I usually spend some alone time in this cabin when Mom is crying?" Mary nodded in acknowledgment. "You know that day is today?"

I never left the cabin? she thought.

It felt odd whoever kidnapped her would not try to hide her, since everybody knew where this cabin was. She also remembered it was on this day several years ago when Les' father walked out on his mother and him. She had been a mess ever since.

Les ties up the knots and continues with his explanation. "But when I arrived here after my nightly ride, someone attacked me. I was able to fend them off, but the attacker ran away before I could see who it was. I was going to give chase…"

"STAY AWAY FROM HER!"

A very large person flew threw the door and slammed Les into the wall. Les was pinned to the wall as the man strangled him with one hand. He tried to talk but couldn't get any air.

"John, stop! You're choking him. He SAVED me!"

John Casey turned to his goddaughter and grunted in acknowledgment, releasing his stranglehold of Les.

"Lester, do NOT run away from your mother like that! She's a mess because you stole her car and didn't tell her where you were going!"

Lester kneaded his sore throat as he tried to breathe normally again. "Casey... she isn't a mess because of ME. It's the time of the year. You of all people should know what happened to her on this day. I just couldn't handle having to pick up the pieces again over it."

"MARY!"

A shout came from outside of the cabin. Mary looked towards the doorway and spotted her favorite cousin standing there. Clara's face was reddened from tears as she ran towards Mary and gave her a bear hug she clearly inherited from her mother, Ellie.

"Oh, thank God you're safe."

Mary looked suspiciously at Clara, not understanding why Clara was here and an emotional mess. Mary assumed Clara was on an undercover mission and working her up the CI hierarchy. But it was certainly a welcome surprise to see her.

Clara released her grip and was suddenly bordering on panic. I just blew my cover. How else do I explain being here? Clara quickly thought about her options. "Mary, let me talk to your uncle for a minute."

Clara pulled Casey outside and asked to borrow his mobile phone, remembering her own mobile phone had been taken. She quickly placed a call.

"Carmichael residence, Ellie Woodcomb speaking."

Clara paused in surprise at her mother picking up the phone at Uncle Chuck's house. "Mom…" Clara began with a whisper, again feeling overwhelmed by what had transpired tonight.

"Clara...are you safe? Did Casey find Mary?" Ellie asked in a rush

Clara remained silent for a moment, attempting to get her bearings. "Yes, Mom. She's safe and we also found Lester. Casey is questioning him at the moment. Mom, I'm sorry, but can you fetch Chuck? I need to talk to him about my mission."

"Of course, dear," Ellie replied. "But you sound stressed out. You need to relax; I'm sure you did your job like you're supposed to."

There was a brief silence before another voice cut in. "Agent Woodcomb, is my daughter safe?"

Clara was taken back by the cold, hardened voice she heard, as she was used to a more pleasant tone from her Uncle Chuck. She guessed it was the voice no agent wanted to hear from him.

"Yes sir, everything is under control. We found Lester Patel, Jr. here. Agent Casey is interrogating him right now."

Clara got silence in return, which she interpreted as her cue to continue. "I told her that you asked me for help to protect my cover." She still got silence in return. "Sir, are you still there?"

"Thank you," Chuck replied in relief. "Thank you, Clara. Come home as soon as you can. I think you deserve a few days down in Cancun. On the company dollar, of course. You earned it."

Inside the cabin, Casey continued to listen to Mary and Lester's versions of what happened. Mary blushed when she had to confess they went here to celebrate their prom. Casey growled at that thought until Mary told him she changed her mind. She was telling Max when everything went black.

Casey made a few notations into his tablet computer. Based on what Mary and Lester told him, it pointed to Max as the perpetrator. A hypothesis Clara shared, as Max would have been found long before now had he been innocent of this. But Mary couldn't accept that. She thought it was impossible Max could have done this, even though both Casey and Clara searched the entire cabin for him.

But none of them knew about the hidden room below the cabin floor. Under their feet sat Max, listening on the chatter above. He looked at his mobile phone to verify it was off. He removed the batteries to make it harder for them to track him.

May, 25th, 2032 05:45 PM Carmichael Household

Mary sat on the edge of her bed, still unable to sleep since returning home almost fourteen hours ago. Seeing her mother so broken, so panic-stricken, was the worst thing she had ever seen. It was almost like seeing Mrs. Patel, the women everyone in CI felt bad for. A promising agent who decided to go become a civilian and fall in love, only to get her heart broken. The woman hadn't worked since that fateful day ten years ago.

Mary tried to tell her mother that she was OK, but her mother only started to cry again. She kept saying everything was her fault and that she was a bad mother. After a couple of hours and help from her father, they finally succeeded to get Sarah to bed, although Mary was unable to sleep herself. She tried several times to call to Max, still unable to believe he could have done this. Up to now, she only got his voicemail.

Suddenly her phone rang, and she saw Max's name and picture on the caller ID. "Max, why haven't you returned my calls? I've been so worried! Did you get away from the kidnapper?"

What she got in return shook her to her core. The same distorted voice.

"HAHAHAHA... I'VE BEEN WITH YOU THE WHOLE TIME, MARY. YOU SHOULD HAVE GIVEN ME WHAT I WANTED. BUT NOW YOU SHALL DIE. DO NOT TRY TO FIND ME. SOMEDAY I WILL BE BACK."

The man hung up and Mary broke down in tears. How did she not realize it was Max? Why did she ignore the obvious signs? Why didn't she listen to Casey and Clara?

The bedroom door opened and her father stood there.

"Was it Max?"

Mary nodded and began to shake. Chuck went to her and held her in a tight embrace as she broke down crying. Downstairs, Sarah, Ellie, and Clara talked about what happened. Ellie and Sarah poured over all of the data they had, wondering how they could have missed it. None of them could understand how the sweet, shy Max could be so cruel.

May, 25th, 2032 05:50 PM Undisclosed location

He put the phone down and smiled at his accomplice. The phone conversation went exactly as planned, although he felt a little bad for Mary. The other man took the phone and broke it in half, throwing it into the fire for good measure. He looked at his accomplice and remembered when he first met the man at his gym four years ago. It was hard to think that the chubby little boy he met then was the same person sitting in front of him now. He acted like a typical geek, but the boy was determined to build himself up. After a couple of weeks helping him with weights, they became really good friends and both of them had a similar past in that both of their fathers had run away. He didn't realize that both of them knew Mary.

"I need to go now, or they might start to suspect me. Here is the new ID I promised. Impossible to trace. And here is the account number with 15 million already transferred into it"

The other man gave him one of his crazy smiles, opened the door and disappeared. He watched him leave and wondered if that was the last time he would ever see his friend.

TBC