OH NO! THE RUSSIAN GOT AWAY! Things are really starting to heat up now. And the chapters are long, too! In Chapter six, secrets are revealed. Ok, so I got that from Star Wars. But they really are!

And PS, please don't kill m e for the long delay in posting this chapter….you see, Driver's Ed is such a pain….just for this, I shall upload two chapters :D

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Chapter Six

1800 Hours

Jefferson City Mall

Once the police got there, they swarmed the place, closing it down and everything. My statement and story were taken down at least four times by four different FBI agents who were called in later on, including the part about my parents.

It wasn't until later that I remembered the paper Leonid had slipped me. I had a feeling I needed to keep this to myself, so I decided to wait when there was no one around to read it.

My watch read 1848 hours when the police and FBI finally said I could go. It was then I remembered Ashley. "Oh no!" I gasped, realizing that I hadn't seen her in hours. I asked each officer I came in contact with if they had seen a tall, brown-headed girl in a blue sweater and jeans, but all shrugged and said no. I was growing panicky when I recalled the look Leonid had given me, with the warning that I would pay. With my best friend being kidnapped? I wondered, quite worried now.

I scoured the entire mall, looking for Ashley, but with most of the shops closed up, I couldn't find her. At a loss of what to do, I returned to my house, after telling the Chief about Ashley and my fears. He assured me that if she was still missing by this time tomorrow, he could fill out an official report. "But between you and me," He said, leaning in close and lowering his voice, "I'll have my men start to search now, ok?"

Never before had I experienced such strong helplessness. Looking at my calendar, I found that I hadn't seen my parents in just under a month. Despairingly, I threw myself down in my chair and faced the computers. The program with the recent calls was still up on one of the screens, I noticed. Then a thought occurred to me-I never did listen to the call Leonid made on January 20th.

It seemed life sprung back in me. Now that I had something to do, I was all business. Typing in some commands, I accessed our house's phone records, and then found that specific call. Clicking play, I sat back in the chair, thinking myself prepared for whatever I was to hear. That, I definitely was not.

"Mr. and Mrs. Philips," The creepy voice said, "We know that you have it. We know your secrets. We know who you are. Don't try our patience. We have means you know nothing of. It's a lost cause, my fellow spies. Yes, we know, Mr. and Mrs. Philips. Now, give us what we want. Because if you don't…we will be forced to go to your daughter. Such a sweet thing, isn't she?" Here, my dad interjected, "Stop! Who are you?" But the creepy voice chuckled hollowly, "Ah, Mr. Philips, you know who we are. You know exactly." Then the call ended as my dad hung up.

My heart went cold, and I could barely listen to call. To hear that creepy voice mention me was completely unnerving.

Then I remembered something else. After the call, dad had gone upstairs and retrieved a sheet of paper. He and mom had studied it for a long time. That, I thought excitedly, that is the key!

My cameras would certainly come in handy for this. Five minutes later, I had CAM1 (the kitchen) following dad and mom as they studied the paper. I watched myself as I disappeared upstairs. It sat through ten minutes of video, as they stood discussing it. Finally dad made a move to go, still holding the paper. As the CAM1 caught him going into the dining room, I figured he was going back upstairs. But after a couple of minutes passed of blank film on CAM7, I hurriedly switched to CAM3, in the dining room, and caught dad in the process of hiding the paper in, of all places, our placemat cabinet!