12:00-1:00PM

12:00 Chris stared dumbly at the ringing cell phone in his hand. The other two people sitting across from him watched as he continued staring at the caller i.d. on the screen.

"Who is it?" Dave asked him. Chris looked up as the phone rang for the third time.

"Stephanie." He said, and finally flipped the phone open. "Hello?" he asked cautiously. Had Stephanie not been so furious at him, she probably would have simply remained mute, just absorbing the sound of his voice again.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Stephanie demanded.

"Well, it's nice to talk to you too, Steph." Chris said, sarcastically.

"Don't play these games with me Christopher." She threatened. "Where's Ash?" Chris wrinkled his brow at her question.

"Although it's great to know you're okay, I'm not entirely sure what you mean by 'where's Ash?'" he said.

"Exactly what I just said!" She yelled at him.

"Well, as far as I know, he's in school – you don't exactly keep me posted on these kinds of things you know." Chris spat bitterly.

"Well this is a hell of a way to get even." Stephanie shot at him. "Did you think that I wouldn't notice if you took him out of school?" Chris moved his gaze from the floor to the two men sitting across from him. Jay idly shuffled a deck of cards while Dave studied Chris's face.

"Stephanie, I'm really not sure what you're talking about." Chris said to her, calmly, although thoroughly confused. "Are you saying that Ash isn't in school?"

"You ought to know, you were the one who signed him out!" She nearly screamed at him. Chris felt his stomach begin to tie itself in a knot.

"Um…well, Steph, I hate to break it to you, but I've been at Jay's house for at least the past 30 minutes. I haven't been anywhere near Ash for the better part of a year." Chris said.

"Why are you still denying this?" Stephanie asked him.

"Why are you so intent on thinking I had anything to do with it?!" Chris shouted, irritated that he was having to prove his innocence.

"Because I saw your name – printed and signed – on the fucking paper Chris!" Stephanie screeched at him. Chris paused for a second.

"You read my name on the paper." Chris said to her, more as a question than as a statement.

"Yes!" she said.

"You could legibly read my name on that paper?" he asked her. Stephanie sighed angrily.

"Yes, Chris, what's your point?"

"Tell me, Stephanie, in the seven years that we were married and did business together, how many times could you actually ever read my handwriting?" He asked her.

The line was silent for a moment.

"Oh my God, you're right." Stephanie admitted. Chris closed his eyes for a moment – knowing now what had certainly happen, and what was going to come next.

"But Chris, if he's not with you…who is he with?" she asked him timidly.

"Could he be with…uh…" Chris started, suddenly finding it difficult to finish his sentence.

"Shawn?" Stephanie supplied for him.

"Yeah." He muttered.

"No, if Shawn was going to sign him out, he wouldn't have used your name." She said. "And besides that…I still don't know…" she trailed off. Chris waited for a moment.

"Still don't know what?" he prompted her.

"If he made it out of the building before the explosion went off." She finished. "I thought that maybe he would have called." Chris thought briefly of the image of Shawn being blown to pieces by a bomb, and quickly suppressed the urge to smile. Realization suddenly struck Stephanie.

"You don't think…you don't think that he was kidnapped, do you?" she asked him.

And there it was, plain and simple. What did Chris think? Did he think that something had happened to their son that wasn't supposed to? Yes, he did. Did he also know, then, how his wife…ex-wife…would respond to his answer?

Yes, he did.

"We don't anything for sure, Steph." Chris told her, while also trying to silence his own fears on the situation.

"But what would they want him for?"

"Not entirely sure it's him they want, dear. Not when so many other things don't fit." He said, before hearing what he was afraid he was going to hear.

Stephanie had begun sobbing on the other end of the line.

It was, at this moment, that Chris realized truly how hard it is to be in love with someone. This woman had shattered his heart into a million pieces – not once, but twice – and he was still sitting here, wishing that he had the right things to say to her to make her feel better. Wishing that he could tell her that they would find their son and that everything would work out all right, like it always has a way of doing. But, in that same instant, Chris saw the image that had haunted him for more than a year. Bedroom door slightly ajar…Ash's nightlight from down the hall…the quiet moaning that could just barely be heard…He closed his eyes tightly to avoid seeing the whole scene again.

Chris took a deep breath.

"They're gonna call us, Steph." He said. Stephanie sniffled.

"How do you know?" she asked him.

"They didn't go through all this trouble to take him for no reason. They want something from us. They're going to have to contact us sooner or later." He said. She sniffled again. "In the mean time, go home, Stephanie. Take a rest, find…" he paused. "Find something to do. I'll call you if I hear anything." He said.

"Okay. I'll let you know if they try to contact me." She said. "I guess I'll go back to the house for now." Chris nodded.

"Good." He said.

"Okay." She paused. "Bye."

"Bye." He said before finally snapping the phone shut.

12:32Jay and Dave both leaned back at the sound of the phone snapping shut. Chris put his phone on the table sitting in front of him and buried his face in his hands.

"What?" Jay finally asked after a few moments of silence. "What's going on?"

"Somebody just signed Ash out of school." Chris said. "Using my name." Jay raised his eyebrows, while Dave leaned forward.

"When?" Dave asked him.

"Couldn't have been too long ago, Stephanie called me as soon as she saw my name on the paper. She thought that I was trying to get even with her for losing the custody battle." Chris said.

"Do you think this has anything to do with the phone calls we got?" Jay asked him, suddenly sitting up in his chair. Chris raised his head and stared at both of them with his bloodshot eyes.

"I think that this has everything to do with those phone calls." Chris said. "I mean, an attack on the WWE building foreshadowed, and you," Chris said, pointing to Dave. "You get a phone call at 5 in the morning saying something about an 'unforeseen danger' coming our way." He paused for a moment.

"But something I heard on the radio on my way over here seems a little too coincidental." He said, pausing yet again. "Orton." He said.

"Orton?" Jay and Dave both asked simultaneously. Chris nodded.

"Orton." He repeated. "I heard on the way over here that he was released from prison today. Somebody managed to come up with 10 million dollars' worth of spare change to spring Orton from prison. On today, of all days."

"So what does that mean?" Jay asked. Dave sighed.

"It means that Orton's got someone brainwashed into helping him with whatever sadistic plan that he's come up with." He said.

"For what?" Jay asked again.

"Revenge, most likely." Chris said. "Revenge for him spending six years in prison for murder, kidnapping, and God knows how many other things he wound up being charged with." Jay scoffed.

"So what are we supposed to do now?" he asked, as Chris's phone started making noise.

"'1New Msg.'" Chris read out loud. "Who the hell is sending me messages?" he pondered. He flipped his phone open and pushed to receive the message.

'You have a beautiful boy. I'd want to keep him that way if I were you. Wait for further instructions – no police.' It read. Chris saw that there was a picture attached. Despite what his brain was telling him, he pressed the button to view the picture.

Complete and total rage is the closest word that can be used to describe Chris Irvine's emotions on seeing a picture of his only child – terrified, bound and gagged, with a gun to his head.

12:57 Shawn jolted awake at the startling sensation of cold water being splashed on his face.

"Wake up, Sleeping Beauty." A strangely familiar voice rasped at him. Shawn coughed to try and rid himself from the gagging sensation that was in his mouth from being drugged.

"Who are you?" he asked hoarsely, wishing that his vision would clear. But, even if it would, somehow Shawn doubted that he would be able to make out the face of his captor in the dimly lit room.

"What do you want?" he asked again, his voice a little stronger this time.

"'Who are you? What do you want?'" the voice mocked him, and chuckled. Shawn heard movement around him, and then the person whispered in his ear.

"I want to expose you for the fake bastard you really are." It said.

1:00