It was ten o'clock in the morning. Neither Peter nor El went to work today. They didn't sleep all night, too. Peter checked his phone every few seconds.
Nick didn't come home after school yesterday. First El and Peter haven't been worried. Yet, they have believed in their girlfriend-theory. But as soon as it got dark outside they started to have a bad feeling. They had tried to phone Nick, but all their calls went directly to voice mail. At nine o'clock in the evening Peter and El had started phone Nick's classmates. But nobody knew anything; nothing about where Nick might have gone and nothing about an alleged girlfriend. At eleven o'clock they have called the police. A policeman came and took a photo. He was quite polite and promised to do his best. Peter had called his colleagues but there was nothing they could officially do. Even if this was a kidnapping Peter's team hadn't got jurisdiction.
"Do you think it is my fault?" Peter suddenly asked.
"Peter, how is it supposed to be your fault?" El replied.
"Maybe he got kidnapped because somebody wants revenge on me."
"Peter, we don't even know if this is a kidnapping. The social worker told me this morning that adopted children use to run away. But they return after a few days on the street. Sometimes they return after some hours. She told me that some foster parent didn't even realize that their children wanted to run away." El explained. But she didn't sound that confident as she wanted, too. She wanted to believe the words she just said, but she couldn't. There was something wrong.
The next moment the phone rang. Both El and Peter jumped up, but Peter got the phone first.
"Peter Burk?"
"Good morning, Mr. Burk. I'm John Wright the headmaster of your son's school. I heard that he is missing since yesterday? Well, his classmates just found his school bag on the street. It looks like somebody had thrown them intentionally on the street. His phone got smashed, too."
Peter gulped. He didn't doubt anymore, that Nick got kidnapped.
-WC-WC-
-a few days later-
Neal was quite sure that days must have passed. He wasn't tied up anymore. He was lying on the cold floor. His hands still felt numb because he was tied up for a very long time on the chair. Neal couldn't open one eye because of it was that swollen. Neither could he breathe through his nose, because it was most likely broken.
Neal was quite sure that nobody was going to rescue him. The past few days (or hours?) Adler was his only hope. Every time the door opened Neal hoped to get rescued but it was always Matthew or his henchmen who came to interrogate him. Neal tried to get up and eventually he sat against the wall. He needed to get away. It was the first time since he got kidnapped that he wasn't tied to the chair. It has been one of Matthew's henchmen, who cut Neal's ties. Neal had the feeling that that man didn't completely agree with beating a kid up. The door was locked, but opening it was not a problem. He had a hairpin hidden in his shoes. But what worried Neal much more was how he was going to get to the door. He wasn't sure if he had the strength to get up. But he was determined. It took him a few minutes to crawl to the door.
Neal opened the door and thanked god that there wasn't a guard. Matthew must have believed that Neal was too hurt to run away. Well, he was right about that. Neal couldn't run, but he would make it outside.