AN – the only way to deal with my Trixie and Jim problem is to make them secondary characters in this book. A lot of the actions will be seen from others perspectives. I hate to say it, but as this is chapter four already, and I have so much I want to write. I hope you don't mind if isn't the last book in this series. I'm considering with a fifth part called Resolutions.

'Tell me,' Honey begged her father, voice rising to an almost hysterical timber, 'are they alive.'

'I don't know,' Matthew continued to look shocked. Shaking his head to gain some perspective, he repeated, 'they're both in a critical condition. The doctor will call us back soon with more details.'

'Who,' Mart demanded, 'contacted you?'

'General Brooks,' Senator Wheeler finally managed to pull his shattered mind together. Saying the name, he remembered a private conversation with Mart a few months ago. A disgusted look covered his face as the bigger picture coalesced before him. 'I believe he's currently at Fort Eustis heading up the military games.'

'Call Tony,' growling, Mart unceremoniously dumped Honey from his knee, 'I'll be back in a few minutes. There's something I have to do.'

Grabbing his phone, Martin Belden stormed out of the breakfast room leaving behind three very confused individuals. Astonished at his behaviour, Honey's hazel eyes clouded with tears. Unsure what just transpired between her father and boyfriend, her mother's scowl deepen as her gaze speared Matthew.

'Out with it.' Grace Wheeler commanded, looking between the hallway leading to her daughters' suite and her husband. 'What have you two been keeping from us?'

The atmosphere taut with friction and unshed emotion, tempers ran short. Instead being elated at the news, the shock of anticipation set in. At the moment they had limited information. Minds tried to make links, to understand what happened, when and why.

Feeling she'd get more out of Mart, Honey started towards her bedroom. She couldn't help feeling abandoned and betrayed. Mart should have been at her side, giving and receiving comfort to the woman his professed to love. Yet at the first major watershed in their lives, he'd discarded her.

A large hand on her shoulder stopped the young woman. Shaking his head, Matthew Wheeler attempted to explain. 'Your young man has sources even I don't know about. I gave Mart the initial chance to impress the editor of a minor paper. He's gone about the investigative work and found resources on his own. It's what makes him such a good journalist. I have no idea how he uncovered the link, but Mart's managed to tie General Brooks to Jim and Trixie's abduction. It's all circumstantial evidence at this point. To tell the truth, I'm not sure why he want's Tony on this. What I do know, Honey, if Mart feels the need to include outsiders in then he has a very good reason. That young man has a reason behind ever action.'

'So,' Grace stood perfectly still, arching one eyebrow, 'are we going to Fort Eustis?'

'Yes,' Matthew sighed, the emotional impact finally catching up with him.

Looking down into the miserable eyes of his daughter, the Senator swore. At times like this he remembered how vulnerable his soft hearted child could be. Her brother and best friend's abduction created a hard shell, broken only by those closest to her. Her significant other's departure left her feeling neglected, relegated to the sick, lonely child they'd moved to Sleepyside to save.

'How,' ever practical, the tough side of the socialite few ever saw shone through. In situations like this, Grace Wheeler became formidable. She'd learnt to use her emotions to achieve her ultimate goal. 'Do you suppose we get to our son's bedside?'

'What?' Matthew turned on his wife, anger in his glowing green eyes.

'The company helicopter will be able to ferry four of us to the Westchester County airport,' Grace came to stand beside her enraged husband. He liked to have the distinction of being in charge. It irked him that she'd been the one to consider the logistics of getting them where they needed to be. 'I know everyone will want to see Jim and Trixie, but as parents, I believe Helen, Peter, you and I have priority. They are our children and I'm sure Helen feels the same way I do. I need to see Jim with my own eyes to really believe he's been returned to us.'

Nodding his understanding, Matthew included his wife in a family embrace. 'I'll call the service and have the pilot on standby.'

Swallowing hard as her mother's words hit her, Honey's tears began to stream down her face. 'Mart, Brian, Bobby and I will wait for the helicopter to return for us.'

'Connor can arrange a second aircraft with the private charter company we use,' Matthew stated, managing to put his emotions behind a stoic façade. 'The rest of the Bob Whites can travel together. Either way, we're going to be at least three hours before we arrive in Virginia.'

'You make the call,' handing her husband the phone, Grace began to prepare for the arrival of the Belden's. 'Honey,' she gave her shell shocked daughter something to keep her mind busy, 'ask Sarina to have coffee ready then give her the rest of the day off. I don't want the staff talking about what's happening. I've asked Brian to bring his parents back here immediately without informing them why. We don't want this story to hit the media while their still unaware of what's happened. Hopefully by the time they get back to the apartment we'll know more. Can you also wake Dan, Di and Missy? I'm sure they'd like to know what's going on.'

In the bedroom he shared with Honey, Mart dialled. Waiting for his trusted colleague to pick up, the young man's fingers flew over his laptops keyboard. Given what transpired, he needed information, small snippets to tie his current theory together.

'Graham,' Mart questioned as a voice sleepily answered at the other end.

'I've been expecting you,' the sometime critic sounded amused. 'Am I speaking with Martin Belden or Peter Jones?'

'Thanks for the article,' Mart managed a hint of amusement, 'but it's not your artistic alter ego I'm interested in. I'll flay him later for revealing my work. Actually, it may have worked in our favour.'

'What's happened?' the terse response understanding there had been a new development.

Like Martin Belden, Graham West began his career as a free-lance journalist while studying. He'd continued in the profession with ground breaking stories by being in the right place at the right time. It led to a career reporting for one of America's biggest networks. Critiquing Broadway started as a tongue in cheek joke because he knew nothing about the arts. Betting a fellow journalist he could do better than the uptight, too serious professionals, he soon found his reviews syndicated under an alias. Graham West had a lot in common with Martin Belden. He'd taken the young man under his wing, aiding him in the relentless search for his sister's abductors. Now, Graham shook with excitement, about to be paid back for his patience and assistance a thousand fold.

'I need you at Senator Wheeler's apartment for an exclusive,' Mart offered. 'I can't say more, but bring your camera man and make it yesterday.'

By the time Mart reappeared in the kitchen, Tony arrived from his apartment three stories below. 'Find out Senator Iraola current location,' Martin Belden ordered, his journalistic persona engaged to stop the maelstrom of emotions he felt welling at the back of his mind. Allowing his feeling free reign would make him effectively useless in catching the two men he knew to be responsible for his sister's disappearance. 'I suspect you might start with Fort Eustis and General Brook's office. I want evidence of his movements for the last four days. I'd also like information on Brook's movements over the same period.'

'Phillip's been on it for the last week,' Tony understood the reason. 'When's the media showing up?'

'Fifteen minutes, give or take,' Mart took the cup of coffee offered by a silent but stunned Honey. 'By then we should have more information. Trixie's in trouble,' shaking his head, Mart couldn't stop the feeling of impending doom.

'Mart,' Honey clung to his arm, 'what is it.'

'Nothing,' he tried to smile, but the woman at his side knew him too well. One look and he found himself confessing, 'I get the feeling she's in a very bad place.'

'How bad?' Honey demanded. When he refused to answer with anything but a shake of his head, she pulled his face within inches of her own. 'Your intuition has been accurate up until now. Tell me what you feel. I need you with me Martin Belden. We've been each other's support for the last three years. Don't do this to us now.'

'I can't face the emotion at the moment,' Mart placed the hot cup on the kitchen counter. For a minute he'd given in to the worry clouding his mind. Pulling the most important person in his life into a desperate clinch, Honey understood the level of his concern for Trixie's life.

Swallowing hard, she stated, 'you think…'

Unable to hear the words from his lover's lips, Mart kissed them. Releasing the shocked woman, they shared a private moment of utter misery before reality intruded. 'There's always hope while we don't know,' he stated, more to calm his nerves than comfort Honey. 'I'm not walking away from you Honey,' he tried to explain, 'I've tried to protect you from the worst one human can do to another because I love you so much. Don't ever think I don't.'

'Mart,' Matthew's voice called, 'Honey.'

Gazing into each other's eyes, the young couple knew they soon find out the fate of their siblings. As they rounded the corner into the informal living room, Dan, Di and Missy stood together. They dressed in a hurry.

'Your family,' Grace's tight smile informed, 'is on the way up.'

Mart could tell they'd had news. He applauded Matthew Wheelers determination to delay until Jim and Trixie's extended family could be together. Waiting impatiently, the seconds ticked by so slowly they seemed like hours. Finally, out of breath, the Belden family entered the room.

'What,' Helen held her breath, swamped by the over powering expectation in the room.

'Moms,' Mart went to his mother immediately. Taking a shoulder under each of his outstretched palms, he suggested, 'sit down.' Only when she'd complied, his father falling into the seat beside her and fear waring with hope in their eyes, Mart broke the news. 'This morning, about half an hour ago, Mr Wheeler received a phone call to say Trixie and Jim have been found.'

'Found,' tears of joy streamed down her face, causing a similar reaction in most of the women in the room. Di turned to her lover for consolation, Grace tucked her small frame under one of her husband's arms and Honey placed a hand on Marts back as he watched the play of emotions over his mother's face.

'Yes,' Matthew stated. 'I don't know all the details. They were found trapped in a sink hole by a group of soldiers on patrol. Trixie and her daughter have been medevac'd to Washington. Both are listed as critical.'

'Daughter,' Helen looked confused, 'Trixie's got a daughter.'

'Yes,' nodding, Matthew didn't quite believe it either. 'The little girl is premature. There were complications. The doctors have done everything they can but…'

'Trixie,' Brian managed. He's learnt enough in his pre-med course to know the repercussions of a preterm birth, to both the neo-Nate and mother.

'Is listed as critical,' Matthew, ignoring the plea for more information, continued with his story, knowing he had yet another bombshell to explode. 'Jim and his son are being treated at Fort Eustis Base Hospital. My son is suffering from some kind of heart condition caused by their incarceration. It appears Jim and Trixie starved to save the life of their son.'

'Oh,' Helen, unable to hold back the tears, fell into Peter's arms.

'Before you ask any more questions,' Matthew pleaded, 'I've given you all the details. Trixie and her daughter have been registered as Jane Doe to protect her identity. I hardly need to tell you what will happen once the media gets a hold of this story. Jim and the little boy are safe from attention while they stay on the base.'

'I,' Mart announced into the silence, 'have taken care of that. Graham West, the investigative journalist, has been working with me on this since the beginning. I've asked him to break the story. He should be here any moment.'

'Mart,' Peter scolded.

'Trust me,' Mart turned to his father, 'handled the right way, this will work in our favour.'

Breaking away from his wife, Matthew came to stand next to the young man. 'Don't you think we have enough to cope with?'

'That,' Mart's determined blue eyes tried to hide his emotions, 'is precisely why I want Graham on this. He'll handle the story with respect, keeping his invasion into our privacy at a minimum and place a humanistic perspective on focused on the ultimate goal. The quicker it's out in the open, the sooner it will go away, leaving Jim and Trixie to cope with repercussions away from the probing eye of the media. With two children, they'll need their privacy maintained at all costs.'

'Mr and Mrs Belden,' Graham, let in by one of Tony's security personnel, offered, 'my aim is to show the emotional devastation all of you have suffered at the hands of a corrupt individual currently wielding a great deal of political power.'

'Our intention,' Mart informed the room, 'is to bring down Senator Iraola and his money laundering scheme. He's been appropriating US military weapons to sell to drug cartels in South America for years. His links to the underworld need to be exposed.'

'I believe,' Graham added into the shattered room, 'this man ordered the death of your daughter. Jim's presence and subsequent abduction is the only reason Trixie's still alive.'

The two journalists shared a moment. They understood the repercussion, the terrifyingly torturous death a young woman would have suffered at the depraved man's hands. What they uncovered, his practices with the woman he paid for services would have paled into insignificance with someone who had crossed him. Smithy understood only too well, his entire village suffering a similar fate. He'd turned out to be the one who'd saved Trixie's life by changing the plan at the last minute.

Yes - Trixie will get that bath with soap soon - but (evil laugh) not like your thinking! Nothing in my universe is that simple.