Chapter 7- Back Home

Sheriff Stilinski rubbed his tired eyes again and took another sip of cold bitter coffee in his cup. He'd been up for forty eight hours straight and he didn't think he'd ever sleep until his son was home safely. He'd come home from a long day at the station after being present with District Attorney for the opening remarks of the Barrow trial and then followed the rest of the day and evening up with reports and overseeing the booking on the handful of arrests his deputies had made.

It had been nearly ten before he'd headed home for the evening and all he'd wanted to do was eat something not out of a carton get a hot shower and go to bed. When he'd pulled in the drive he immediately noticed that Stiles's jeep was not there. That wasn't that unusual. His curfew wasn't until 11 and even then he stayed at friend's houses occasionally during the week.

It had been nearly midnight when he'd laid down in bed but he couldn't sleep, he hadn't heard from Stiles. The kid always checked in with him when he was staying elsewhere. Even when he wasn't completely honest with him with what friend he was staying with he always texted him to be sure he was okay. It was something that he did after his mom died. The Sheriff knew that Stiles worried about him to the point of madness so it felt unsettling to not have heard from him at all.

He'd tried calling Stiles with no answer. By then he'd been out of bed pacing as he started through his mental phone list. First he'd tried Melissa and Scott; neither had heard from him since he'd left lacrosse practice. Scott had said that he was going to Lydia's house to get started on a project for Harris. He'd tried Lydia next, no answer. He'd tried Stiles's girlfriend Malia who told him she hadn't seen him since school and hung up on him.

The Sheriff had to call the station to get Lydia's mother's number as he didn't have it. He'd called her and she answered on the second ring. She was with her boyfriend but hadn't heard from Lydia either. She sounded worried but the Sheriff had assured her he'd swing by and make sure they were okay and let her know.

When he'd gone by Lydia's house nothing immediately seemed amiss. The only thing that assured him that he wasn't crazy was that Stiles's CJ Jeep was parked beside the house but the two teens were nowhere to be found. The front door was unlocked too. Something just didn't feel right.

He'd officially filed the missing persons report at 8 am the next morning when neither teen had turned up. At exactly 8:15 AM the Sheriff received a phone call demanding that Barrow be let free or Stiles and Lydia would pay the price. His heart had stopped when he had taken that phone call. The kids hadn't disappeared, they'd been taken. That made things a whole lot more dangerous.

He'd tried to keep the guy talking while he had his deputies run a trace. He tried to explain to him that Barrow was in County Lockup in solitary confinement and he couldn't get to him. There was no way that he could be released, legally or otherwise. The caller had given him until noon to make something happen. It was now approaching midnight the night after they'd disappeared and he was exhausted. He was also terrified. He wouldn't be able to sleep. Even though the caller had told him not to contact other authorities he had no other choice. He had called Senator Martin as well as Lydia's mother to let them know there daughter had been abducted with his son. He'd called Scott's estranged father who was the local FBI liaison. He couldn't risk keeping this to himself. He needed resources to find those kids.

A swift knock on his office door brought him out of his musings. "Sheriff, one of the deputies just found this package on the seat of his car when he went out for patrol. No idea who left it." Deputy Parrish, one of his youngest and most trusted deputies announced as he handed the Sheriff a small brown package not much larger than a ring box with his name scrawled across the packaging.

The Sheriff gave him an eyebrow in question before carefully pulling the wrappings off with a pen. After setting the brown paper wrapping aside carefully he popped open the container with the tip of his pen to reveal a thumb drive. He grabbed a rubber glove from his top desk drawer and hastily snapped it over his hand before taking the thumb drive and sliding it into his desktop.

He nodded to the wrapping paper "Take them to forensics and see if they can lift anything off that. Run the security footage and see if you can see when and who dropped it off. Let Agent McCall know what we have too." Parrish nodded; he looked at the computer screen like he wanted to see what it was but instead went to retrieve an evidence bag.

The files on the drive popped up. A text document and a video, he clicked on the text document first. It simply stated.

We have Stiles and Lydia. Do you think we were kidding when we said Barrow must go free or they'd pay the price? You give me mine or you'll never see yours.

The Sheriff began sweating profusely as he shakily clicked print on the text file and moved the mouse to click on the video.

There was Stiles cuffed to a chair sitting in front of another man. Parrish had returned to the room and stood behind the Sheriff to watch the video with him. The Sheriff jumped both times the man viciously clocked Stiles. "Where were you shot?" He heard the man ask and the Sheriff was feeling the bitter coffee rising in this throat.

When the man impaled Stiles with the shiv and then painfully twisted it the Sheriff felt faint, the blood was roaring in his ears. Stiles had thrown up and thankfully gone slack as though he'd passed out. The Sheriff couldn't think, he couldn't move. His son, his son was being tortured. He'd already been through so much because of Barrow and now this!

It took him a moment to realize that Parrish was talking to him. "Sir… let me take the thumb drive and run some tests on it, I'll put his face through facial recognition but he called Barrow his son. I'd bet he's his father. I can get known aliases and see if anything pops up for other known accomplices to see if we can find something. I'll have something soon."

The Sheriff just nodded mutely and let the deputy take over. He was more than capable; he'd be better off doing it than the Sheriff who couldn't even open his mouth. After a few moments of sitting and staring at the blank computer screen before him the Sheriff picked up his cell phone and dialed Melissa's number.

"Melissa McCall." She answered automatically.

"Melissa it's me." His voice was gruff and emotional.

"Have you found anything?" She asked as he heard her step away from someone at the other end.

"No. But I got… a got a video. Someone left it for me in a patrol car." He swallowed thickly as his eyes brimmed with tears.

"Is he okay?" She asked and he could hear the emotion in her voice. She was like a mom to Stiles, had cared for him right alongside of her own son for a long time. It hurt to hear her going through this.

"I need to ask you something… this guy.. This guy that has him… he ugh... he stabbed him… right where he was shot. How long… how long… can he..."

He couldn't get out what he wanted, no needed to ask her. He could hear her sniffle on the other end of the line before composing herself and returning to her professional detached voice. "Well assuming it's the exact same place he should be okay, there weren't any major blood vessels in the way. Lydia's with him. She's smart. As long as they're together I'm sure she'll know how to handle it. Can I come over and keep you some company? I'm off my shift. I just don't think you should be going through this alone right now."

He nodded before realizing she couldn't see him. "Sure, if you don't mind. That'd be great."

"Scott has been going crazy. I might just bring him along. It will keep him out of trouble. Have you told the Martins?" She asked.

"Not yet. I'll give them a call in a few. And Melissa… thanks." She shushed him before hanging up the phone. He rubbed his eyes tiredly and picked up the station phone to call Lydia' parents. He dreaded the call. He felt so helpless just sitting and waiting. He needed to be out there finding them but he had no idea where to even begin looking.

It was like trying to find a needle in a haystack only the haystack was smoldering and about to ignite into flames. They needed to hurry.