Chapter 4: Disaster
"Ben! Do you hear something?" I whispered.
"No…" Ben answered groggily. "Why?"
"I did. I'm sure of it!"
"I'll go check it out…" He climbed out of bed.
"Be careful," I whispered, grabbing his hand for a second.
Ben had just left the room when I heard a scream. Jackie.
I jumped up and ran to Jackie's room.
The window was open, and Jackie was… gone.
"Help me search outside!" Ben screamed, racing to the door. But by the time we got outside there were nothing more then…footprints. Leading to and from Jackie's room. Two sets of footprints. An adult's and a little girl's.
We searched outside, and all through our house. Jackie was…gone.
Now, we decided, was the time to inform the others.
"Abe, honey? Wake up. And come downstairs. It's really important." I left the room, still trying not to cry. Not yet. I had to think clearly.
Who was I kidding? My little girl was missing. My only daughter. I sat down hard on the couch and cried. It felt good. Like I didn't have to be strong. I could just…cry.
Ben had gone to wake Riley, (who had opted to stay at our place until the thing with Ian blew over) up.
I felt the weight of the couch shift as Ben sat down and held me close. I noticed that Ben, the strongest, most level headed and amazing person I knew, was crying as well.
Abe came downstairs at the same time. Riley did.
"What's wrong?" They both asked in perfect unison. I started crying harder.
Ben finally said, "We think Jackie was… kidnapped."
"WHAT!" Abe yelled, running over to us. He hugged me tightly. "Kidnapped," I sobbed. Abe sat down beside us. "No. No. No. No. No. No. NO!" He said, his voice wavering. "No. She can't be!" "Yes." Ben said, grimly. "We've looked all over. She's not here…."
I heard sniffling from the other side of the room. I looked up to see Riley furiously wiping his eyes. "I'm not crying." He mumbled. "I've got something in my eyes." I couldn't help but smile a little amidst my tears. "We know, Riley."
That's how we spent the next thirty minutes. Crying. Or not crying.
Then the phone rang. Ben jerked it up. "Hello!" He froze, and pressed the button for 'speakerphone.' Ian's voice, cold and hard as steel, flooded the room.
"Hello, Ben. You have such a lovely daughter. IT WOULD be such a pity if something were to happen to her."
"Ian," Ben's voice shook. "Let my daughter go!"
Vaguely, I wondered if that was how Moses had sounded when he told Pharaoh, 'Let my people go.' Ian's voice jarred me back to reality. "In time." He replied. I could imagine him smirking.
Suddenly I spoke up. "Please, Ian! Leave our little girl out of this! Of all people, our kids don't deserve to pay for what WE did!"
"Indeed." Ian answered with a horrible indifference. But, as it is, we can now help each other. I have something you want, and you can help me get what I want."
"What is that!" Ben asked, seething but somehow remaining under control. Ian's next words are something I'll never forget. "The Constitution."
"WHAT!"
"You heard me. If you want to see your daughter again then you will steal the Constitution."
"Oh…No..." I whispered. Ben grabbed my hand and held it tight. "Ian..We can't…do that."
"You did it once, didn't you?"
"That was…We can't…"
"Do you want her to die?" I gasped. Finally, Ben replied,
"We'll do it."
"I had a feeling you'd say that." Ben looked ready to scream.
"Shut up, and let us talk to our daughter."
"Fine," Ian said, "Here she is." I could tell that what ever would come next would be…bad. I just wasn't expecting… "DADDY!" Jackie cried into the phone.
"Daddy, help me!"
"Jackie? It's Dad. Don't worry, sweetie. Don't worry. We'll be there soon. I promise, we'll be there.
"Don't worry." I repeated." Just remember, we love you, SO SO much."
"I love you too. " She whimpered. I heard her give a cry of pain, and I could just imagine Ian shoving her back. "Just remember," he said, "the Constitution." Then he hung up.
Are we really going to do this, Ben?"
"Yup." Ben said grimly." Ian WILL do just like he said. I hate to say this, but if we don't do like he says, I have no doubts that he will…kill Jackie."
"I let out a sob. "Don't say that!"
"Do you want the truth?"
"I don't know anymore! I don't even know what the truth IS!" Ben hugged me. "The truth is that we are getting our daughter back."
"So we're doing it?"
"Most definitely."
