Undercover
Disclaimer- I own nothing I wish I did but I just get to play with the characters
Chapter 9
Sandra woke up Friday morning tired, frustrated and grumpy. After climbing into bed with Robert she had lay awake in his arms thinking. She kept running the situation over and over in her mind trying to find a better solution, a safer solution and she continued to come up with nothing. She stayed that way for hours until exhaustion finally took over only to wake few a hours later. The sun was shining bright through the window but it didn't match her dark mood.
The previous morning Sandra and Robert had been playful and sexy with each other but neither felt that way now. He gave her a gentle few kisses before he got out of bed to shower but the kisses lacked any hint of sexual desire. They didn't really speak much, there wasn't anything they could say to make it better. They walked silently hand in hand to the dining room where they both filled up on coffee desperate for some energy.
Anne picked up on her mood immediately but she waited a few hours before she finally asked Sandra about it.
"What has you so out of sorts today?" the older woman asked. Sandra was silent for a few moments trying to find an answer.
"I'm worried about going home" she finally replied with a lie.
"You mean you are afraid of what will happen between the two of you?" she asked trying to understand.
"I'm afraid life will get in the way, we only just found our way back to each other what if we aren't strong enough?" Sandra asked and it was nice to know that even with only a few hours of sleep she could still manage to come up with an effective and believable lie.
"You will just have to work at it, be aware of what happened before and try hard not to give in to the behaviors that broke you apart. Maybe you two could try working a little less?" Anne suggested trying to be helpful.
"Oh no that is the one thing we have in common we are both very dedicated to our work." She informed the woman honestly. "It has been so hard not checking into my office this whole week." She whinged trying to sound believable.
"I think you can do it, don't worry about it too much just make the decision to do it. Like me, I am packing up and moving out the moment we get home. That is if he even comes home." Anne told her with a determined look.
"Bravo good to hear" she replied approving whole heartedly.
"I feel like a new woman" Anne gushed almost giddy the exact opposite of how Sandra was feeling.
"I am so happy for you" she responded with a smile but she could only manage a weak one.
"You should be happy as well, your marriage is on the mend don't be all gloomy." The woman said trying to pep her up.
"Oh I'm sorry Anne I didn't sleep well last night I am exhausted" she explained.
"They why don't we go to lunch early and then you can take a nap here in the sun. There is nothing better than an afternoon spend sleeping warmed by the sun." She suggested sitting up.
"That does sound wonderful" Sandra agreed perking up.
"Then let's go. I may nap as well" she grinned as the two walked off.
An afternoon of dozing on and off did help improve Sandra's mood allowing her to feel slightly more optimistic about Charles and his bombs. The bomb squad existed to stop threats such as this, it was their job and she trusted them. She was dozing lightly when the warmth of the sun suddenly disappeared. Opening her eyes to investigate she found a person standing next to her.
"Robert" she exclaimed happy yet surprised to see him.
"Sorry I hope I'm not interrupting" he began.
"No not at all just napping, what's up?" she asked sitting up so she could see him better.
"I was hoping you would be willing to joining me for a couple's massage?" he explained. "You don't mind do you Anne?" he added.
"No of course not you two kids go have fun" she told them with a laugh.
"Okay" Sandra agreed accepting the hand he was offering. "We'll see you at dinner" she promised the older woman as they walked away hand in hand. "What's this all about?" she asked Robert as they walked towards the spa.
"You'll see" he replied cryptically.
"What happened to golf?" she inquired secretly happy to be able to spend the afternoon with him.
"We decided to cancel" he replied and he held the spa door open for her. "We already have a room" he explained as they skipped the front desk and went straight into the heart of the spa.
"Robert what is going go?" she asked as he pulled her into one of the rooms. She was about to ask a few more questions when she looked up to see a familiar face standing there in one of the spa's white lab coats.
"Gerry" she cried in shock. "What are you doing here?" she demanded.
"I'm moonlighting as a masseuse. What do you think I am doing here? Now get on the massaged table and at least look like you two are getting a couples massage if someone comes in." He hissed at them and she quickly slipped her sandals off and sat on the table.
"Don't you even think of touching me" she warned him.
"Sandra relax" he sighed.
"Then tell me what is going on" she whispered.
"This was the only way I could talk to you two without arising suspicions because Bennett and his men all know I'm a copper." He informed her and she had to admit it was a smart idea.
"Right so what is the status of the situation?" she asked eagerly.
"The bomb squad is on their way. A couple of them are going to look around dressed as staff. Then once dinner starts they will move in and actually get to work. They have all those locations you gave me sir and now it is time to let them do the dangerous work." Gerry said looking over at Robert who was sitting on the other table. Sandra was slightly confused by what Gerry was talking about.
"What locations? We only saw them making the bombs?" she asked him immediately becoming suspicious.
"He gave me a list of locations he believes might have a bomb." Gerry answered ignoring the glare Robert was giving him. She suddenly knew they were in on a secret she was not.
"How did you get those Robert?" she asked a sinking feeling developing in her stomach and fury building inside her chest.
"I…well…" he stuttered.
"What did you do?" she growled at him.
"I spent most of the morning looking for the bombs and trying to find out where Charles Bennett was without him noticing me." He answered her but he refused to meet her eye.
"I beg your pardon? And you didn't think to tell me this was your plan? Did you deiced to do this after Bennett canceled your golf game or before?" She demanded her anger rising.
"Before, I was going to cancel but he beat me to it" he replied weakly.
"You were the one who kept saying we shouldn't be taking unnecessary risks. You begged me not to do anything like this and remember I made you promise as well, which you did. So last night you lied to me, plus you decided to do this and at no point did you think I might want to know about it?" She yelled at him furious for what he had done which included breaking a pretty important promise he made to her.
"I knew you would want to know about it but I didn't want you to know what I was doing. I wanted you to go to the pool with Anne thinking I was golfing so no one would become suspicious" he answered still not looking at her. He knew exactly how mad she was at him and for some reason he thought if he avoided eye contact he could escape her wrath. She decided to teach him how wrong he was.
"So you flat out kept this from me. Let me guess you wanted to protect me? You didn't want me helping you because you deemed it too dangerous for me." She growled at him fury in her eyes. "You lied to me last night when you said we were in this together. Maybe I do want a divorce after all" she screamed at him and bolted from the room. She didn't stop or even look to see if he was following her.
Sandra stormed straight into their bungalow slamming the door behind her. She was so mad she could barely see straight let alone think. She began grabbing her clothes out of the wardrobe and shoving them back into her suitcase. She needed something to do and packing was all she could think of. She felt betrayed by Robert Strickland and it hurt more than she expected.
A few minutes later she heard the door open but she didn't turn around, she didn't react at all, she simply continued to throw stuff into her suitcase she didn't even bother to fold them, she didn't care at that moment. She wanted to block the whole world out and forget she ever came on this trip. Now all she wanted was to arrest Bennett, save all the guests from his bombs and go home, back to her old life that didn't involve Strickland.
"Sandra" he called but she continued to ignore him, she never wanted to speak to him again.
"Sandra please" he begged her but she didn't respond.
"Sandra could you please cut me a little slack… please, I am completely in love with you which will surprise no one. But I have only been allowed to actively care about you and your safety for three or four days. I am going to need some time to get use to you being in danger, am I going to over react again? Probably, but it is a learning curve and a process. Please… I am going to make mistakes like this but I didn't do it because I wanted to under mind you or because I didn't think you could handle it. I did it because I love you and I don't want anything to happen to you." He was standing there begging her and she wanted to be mad at him and to yell and rant at him. But she just couldn't be mad after what he had just said.
"I'm not saying I am ready to entirely forgive you just yet but I think I see where you are coming from and I must admit I feel the same way. I don't like the idea of you being in danger any more than you like the idea of me in danger. And you do make a valid point that we have not really had the time necessary to adapt to all the changes that a relationship will bring about." She replied choosing her words very carefully and trying to remain calm.
"Really?" he asked in disbelief.
"Yes really" she admitted with a sigh.
"I am glad and rather relieved that you actually understand, I respect you as a detective and as a woman" he said unsure of the situation, she could see in his eyes that he didn't know if she was still mad at him.
"It is possible I over reacted a little. I think I have fallen pretty hard for you and it felt like you were cutting me out already. We are partners and if we are going to make this work, we need to have really good communication. I recognize that during the course of our work there are going to be things we can't always share with each other. But we need to try and be as open as possible. And I need to know you trust me to do my job regardless of how dangerous things are. Just because a situation is less than safe does not mean you get to keep me from it. This thing between us will not last very long if you don't get that concept through that thick skull of yours." She countered, she felt they kept having this argument over and over and she didn't want to do it again.
"I completely agree and in retrospect I should have told you, but I have this overwhelming need to protect you." He replied apologizing further.
"You are going to need to fight that desire then because you can't protect me from everything." She reminded him firmly she was not a fragile doll and he couldn't treat her that way.
"I know but you can't really blame me for wanting to try" he said which earned him an immediate glare. "Or maybe you can" he quickly amended.
"All I am asking is that we talk, I am not an unreasonable person." She said with another sigh.
"I know you aren't and I promise we will talk I won't do things behind your back. So do you still want a divorce?" he asked her.
"Well… you kind of told me you love me so I don't think I do" she smiled back at him.
"That makes me very happy" he replied pulling her into his arms. "I wish I could say I'm not going to make any more mistakes but it would be a lie and I apologize in advance."
"We both will and you are absolutely right we only just started this relationship, there are going to be plenty of issues we need to work out all couples do." She agreed with him. "We haven't exactly started this whole relationship in a normal way" she added with a laugh.
"Hardly, we were sharing a bed long before we shared a kiss. Maybe when this is all over we could go out on a real date just the two of us, not trying to pretend we are married because we don't want some psycho to know we are police officers." He suggested and while he was slightly joking, they both knew it was true.
"I think that would be a great idea" she added. "Did we just have our first real fight and we didn't end up killing each other?" she asked him playfully.
"I think we did, if there weren't bombs all over the place I would say that deserves to be celebrated but instead how about you let me kiss you?"
"Sounds perfect" she sighed happily before he captured her lips with his. When they finally pulled apart she rested her head on his shoulder relaxing in his arms.
"Ah Sandra?" he said after a moment.
"Yeah" she replied closing her eyes.
"Why did you suggest we both would need to keep things from the other at work? I'm your boss why would you not tell me something?"
"Do you really want to ruin the moment with that question?" she warned him.
"Nope absolutely not" he countered kissing her once more. She was just about to direct him to the bed when a knock came at their door. They both looked at each other in terror. There was no reason someone should be trying to see them. Unless they had some plan that involved harming or killing them. There was another knock and the two remained frozen terrified to answer the door.
"Ah Mrs. Stewart you left your shoes in the spa" a voice came from the other side of the door.
"It's Gerry" she whispered letting out a sigh of relief. He nodded relaxing, quickly he released her and moved to opened the door.
"Hello" he greeted the other man knowing people might be watching. "Why don't you come in, thank you for bringing my wife's shoes back" he said inviting the man in as he stuck to their cover in case anyone heard them.
"Thank you and here are your shoes" Gerry said handing the sandals over to Sandra.
"Thank you Gerry" she said taking the shoes from him blushing slightly.
"So are you two speaking to each other again?" he asked eyeing both of them.
"Yes we worked this issue out" she assured him without going into any detail. He had no idea about their relationship and she was hoping to keep it that way for a little while longer.
"Good, so are you two going to tell me what is really going on?" he inquired giving them both a look not letting the issue go.
"What are you talking about?" she asked trying to appear innocent.
"Don't treat me like a fool I know a romantic spat when I see one remember I am the expert at causing them. So either you two have gotten so wrapped up in your roles that you are actually acting like you are really married. Or things have changed between you two since Saturday and a romance has genuinely blossomed." He replied calling them out and she knew it wouldn't work to lie to him but she didn't want to share everything with him.
"We have gotten closer" Robert answered and she nodded agreeing with his choice of words.
"Is there something I should know?" Gerry demanded.
"No" she replied immediately while at the same time Robert said "yes". She at once sent him a glare.
"Second mistake?" Robert replied weakly.
"You really weren't lying when you said you would make mistakes." She groaned at him. "Fine, yes Gerry we are now in a relationship, it started Tuesday night" she admitted. Her hoped of keeping their secret to themselves was now gone if Gerry knew Jack and Brian would as well. She had told Robert it would be a miracle if they made it through the week without one of the boys finding out and she had been right.
"Your little diversion turned into something more?" he asked too smart for his own good at that moment. The grin on his face made it clear that he was enjoying this a little too much.
"Yes it did, good to know you were listening very closely to what was going on" she huffed slightly.
"I was trying to make sure you two were safe, I was doing my job. I must say this is an interesting development but one I could have seen coming if I thought about it more before we sent you two here." He continued to grin at them and Sandra took that as a good sign, he wasn't upset by what they had done.
"I don't think it was exactly something we expected and we certainly didn't plan it but apart from that disagreement you just witnessed, I don't think it should have a negative impact on our work." She informed him trying to make it clear that this changed nothing as far as UCOS was concerned.
"You mean your fight where you shouted at him rather loudly? Was that your first fight as a couple?" he teased them.
"Yes it was but we talked it out and in the end I think it was a good thing we fought, we had a thing or two to talk about." Robert answered and she glared at him once more.
"You could stop over sharing at any moment" she told him.
"Sorry but he is part of your team and a very good friend he would find out on way or another" Robert replied and begrudgingly she had to admit he was right.
"Okay, well as much as I would love to keep talking about this new relationship of yours I actually had something important to tell you when you stormed out. Sir, the bomb squad is very happy you found a few of the bombs especially the one near the main building. But they would request you stop doing just about anything except going to dinner like a normal guest." Gerry informed them and Sandra was more than happy to comply.
"Ah…okay…" Robert answered as he was the real guilty party in all this.
"Don't worry, I have explained that you two have trouble with request such as this one but they want me to stress that you can do more help by keeping an eye on all the guests. They are pretty sure that if you keep wandering around you will accidentally get yourselves blown up. You have a few hours till dinner do you two think you can stay in here and relax while the bomb guys do their job?" Gerry asked them as if they were naughty school children.
"Yes Gerry" Sandra sighed at him only just managing not to roll her eyes. It had somehow managed to escape his mind that he along with Jack and Brian had ignored similar requests from her countless times.
"Good just don't relax too much and miss dinner and this shindig." He lectured them with a mischievous look in his eye.
"We will be there for dinner on time Gerry, no reason to worry." She assured him and her glare shot down his inappropriate thoughts. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Robert snickering and she chose to ignore him for the moment.
"Right, good and yet I still feel the need to say this" Gerry replied his voice suddenly becoming serious and he looked directly at her. "Sandra please stay in this room until dinner. These bomb guys know what they are doing and it is dangerous. I know we have clearly taught you both several bad tricks but this is me telling you to actually stay put." Gerry was practically begging them and Sandra knew there was no way she could tell him no even if she wanted to.
"This has to be a first" she commented instead and he only looked at her. "I promise you Gerry we will stay here until dinner. Neither of us have any desire to come face to face with a bomb or to impede the bomb squad." She assured him trying her hardest to convince him of their sincerity so he would stop this conversation.
"Great and when you go to dinner take your mobile with you. That way if we need to get in touch with the two of you and keep you updated we can." He requested in complete seriousness.
"More than happy to, it has felt strange not having it with me all week." She happily agreed, Sandra was done with that resort and their no mobile rule, things had gotten very serious and she needed to be in contact with her team at all times.
"Then I will leave you two alone, don't want anyone to become suspicious." He replied heading towards the door.
"Bye Gerry" she sighed and watched as the older man left their bungalow.
"Am I still in trouble?" Robert asked once they were alone.
"No and I forgive you" she replied with a smile.
"Good, now tell me—how would you like to relax for the next couple of hours?"
"I think you know, hell Gerry knows" she laughed.
"The bed it is perfect choice" he chuckled happily pulling her down on the bed with him.
"Remember we have to be on time for dinner" she told him as he tried to remove her clothes.
"I won't forget trust me" he promised.
"Should we actually be doing this right now while the place is littered with bombs? It feels wrong to be enjoying ourselves." She moaned as he peppered her now bare skin with kisses over her feeble objections.
"We have been all but ordered to remain in this room till dinner. Is there anything else you can think of that we could be doing instead?" He asked between kisses.
"No I guess there isn't" she conceded after a moment.
"Then relax and enjoy this time with me" he told her climbing on top of her.
"I can do that" she sighed happily before giving up her resistance and embracing the feelings he was causing in her. They had just had their first fight, after all, and they should be making up.
sssSSsss
"Can you zip me up?" Sandra called out as she stood in front of the mirror. Her reflection revealed a deep blue dress, the bodice was form fitting down through her abdomen and then flowed out at the waist with a sizable slit up the side. She had fallen in love with the dress the moment she tried it on and it had been hanging in her closet awaiting the right event. Given the personal developments between her and Robert this past week, she was glad she had chosen to bring the dress for tonight's dinner and dancing.
"You look exquisite and gorgeous" he told her and he kissed her shoulder after he finished zipping her up.
"Thank you" she replied as a giant smile spread over her entire face. She was thrilled to know that he liked her in this dress.
"I would love to take it right back off you at this moment." He informed her and the look of hunger in his eyes was unmistakable.
"Unfortunately we have to be at dinner tonight and we need to be there on time" she reminded him.
"I know" he moaned in frustration. "Tomorrow I am taking you home and we are going to spend the rest of the day in your bed, if that is okay with you?"
"How soon can we leave tomorrow?" she asked eagerly making it clear she completely agreed.
"I will make sure we will be out of here as soon as we possibly can" he promised her.
"Good now let's get this dinner over with and put Charles Bennett behind us." She told him firmly. She had a small clutch in one hand that was hiding her phone. With her other hand she took his and together they made their way through the door.
"Whatever you do make sure you stay on the sidewalk and stone walkways, they can't have bombs under them." He advised her as they walked towards the main building.
"I don't see any of the bomb squad techs, do you think something is wrong?" she asked him looking around concerned. She had expected to see a man here or there but there was no one in sight.
"I am sure everything is fine, Jack would have called you if something was wrong." He assured her and she knew he was right. "Take a deep breath and relax, one last night of pretend and then we go home." He whispered in her ear as they approached the door.
"I love you" she told him suddenly. The words just seemed to fly out of her mouth, it surprised her because love wasn't a word she used, yet she knew it was true. Robert looked into her eyes and then kissed her. He had said the words earlier that day so she never doubted his feelings but his kiss told her everything she needed to know. As they pulled apart she suddenly wanted to turn around and run back to their room. It had nothing to do with a desire to have sex. She wanted to take Robert back to their bungalow so they could keep each other safe until all the bombs were removed. Instead they walked hand in hand into the dining room.
"Anne" Sandra greeted the woman warmly as they approached their table.
"Sandra, Robert I am so glad you are here" she cried happily.
"Where is Charles?" Sandra asked looking around as they sat down.
"My soon to be ex-husband just up and left me here. He is up to something and the first chance I get I will make him pay." She told them firmly before taking a drink of wine.
"I am so sorry" Sandra sympathized, though she wasn't surprised the man had said he was going to skip out during dinner.
"Charlie will be the one who is sorry. I don't care that he walked out but if he thinks he can rush off and avoid getting a divorce he has another thing coming." She growled drinking more wine. Once she was done Robert dutifully refilled her empty glass for her and poured Sandra and himself a glass as well.
"I hope you get everything you want from this divorce" Sandra replied and she truly meant it.
"Oh I will, now this is supposed to be a party come on let's celebrate." Anne ordered them becoming suddenly happy. Sandra and Robert exchanged glances and then picked up their own wine glasses trying to pretend to be excited.
In the middle of dinner Sandra's mobile began to ring. Thankfully the room was so loud most people couldn't hear it. She quickly retrieved her phone looking at the caller id with trepidation.
"It's Jack I'm going to step out, sorry" she informed Robert and apologized to Anne before she stood up and rushed for the door before either of them could say a word.
"Work?" she heard Anne ask.
"Not exactly, her assistant is getting stuff ready for us when we return tomorrow" Robert lied.
"Jack what's going on?" she asked as she walked away from the main building. She didn't want anyone to hear her but she made sure to stay on the sidewalk remembering Robert's earlier warning.
"Bennett has been spotted trying to board a plane to Glasgow. Officers are moving in. But Samuel Ellis is not with him, we are looking for him, he might still be at the resort. Keep an eye out for him, treat him as highly dangerous, he likely knows were all the bombs are." He warned her speaking quickly.
"Will do, thanks for the update Jack but I need to get back to dinner before people notice." She replied hurriedly ending the call.
"Sandra" she heard a man call her name and she turned around looking for the source. The next thing she felt was a blinding pain as she was hit in the head and the whole world went black.
sssSSsss
Sandra groaned as consciousness returned to her. She opened her eyes and for a moment she was afraid she couldn't see. It took several moments for her eyes to adjust and she realized she was in an empty bungalow in the dark. The one side of her forehead throbbed worse than any hangover she had ever had. She quickly realized it was the source of most of her pain and she moved to touch it. Only then did she realize her hands were tied to the arms of the chair she was sitting on. She struggled against the ropes but it did no good. Her senses were slowly returning to her and only when she stopped struggling with her arms did she discover that her legs were bound as well. Fighting those ropes proved to be useless as well. With her extremities and her torso tightly bound to the chair she knew there was little chance of escape on her own. What annoyed her more was the thick tape that covered her mouth. It was equally uncomfortable and it meant she couldn't call for help either.
She didn't understand why someone would hit her on the head, knocking her out just to tie her up and leave her in an empty bungalow. Did they plan to come back? Or was she merely trapped here until someone found her. Robert would begin to miss her soon and even if he couldn't manage to find her housekeeping would likely be in to refresh the room come morning. Yet the idea of spending all night tied up did not appeal to her and she let out a frustrated cry that was muffled by the tape. The chair was not incredibly comfortable but what was worse was the continued throbbing in her head. The side of her face felt wet, she suspected it was blood but she couldn't touch it to make sure. She tried to let out a sigh but was less than successful, then she tried to rest her head on her shoulder and that didn't work well either.
What the bloody hell
Her eyes began to adjust to the dark even further and she was suddenly alert and desperately trying to look around her. Not only were there ropes tied around her but there were wires as well. She followed the wires with her eyes and she discovered they were twisted around her. This information caused the hole in her stomach to grow bigger. All the wires connected to something under the chair. Yet Sandra didn't need to see it to know she was sitting on a bomb courtesy of Charles Bennett. The only question was how the bomb was to be detonated. If there was a timing device she couldn't see how much time was left. Though in this day and age she knew that a call from a mobile phone would be enough to set it off. She now understood exactly why she had been left alone in an unused dark bungalow. It would be one of the last places people would look for her and by the time they did it might be too late.
No…no…nonononono… NO…no this can't be happening.
Fear and anxiety began to take over and it was hard to breath. She fought against the ropes once more with all her strength and then she stopped suddenly. A worse thought entered her brain. Could she set the bomb off by moving around too much? She froze trying to remain as still as possible. There was literally nothing she could do to save herself, she was dependent upon someone finding her. Sandra hated being dependent upon people, she was used to being self-sufficient.
Robert
She initially wanted him to find her, she had already decided she was willing to be dependent on him. But the more she thought about it the more she came to one conclusion. It would be better if he didn't find her. It was too dangerous he could end up setting the bomb off killing both of them. She was strapped to a bomb and had a good chance of being killed and she was willing to accept that she might die, but she couldn't bear the thought of him dying as well. If she had any luck left one of the bomb guys would discover her and disarm the bomb saving her.
The problem was she wasn't feeling very lucky at the moment. And one question kept running through her head:
What did I do wrong to get caught
sssSSsss
Robert looked at his watch for the third time in five minutes. Sandra had yet to return and he was beginning to worry. He hadn't take notice of the time when she got up to leave. The main course had just been served and their afternoon had left him hungry. He blamed his hunger for not immediately noticing her lack of speedy return. Only when he finished his food did he realize that she had not come back into the dining room. That had been nearly twenty minutes ago and he was flat out worried. While it was possible that her team had found something that required her attention even then he would have expected her to come back for him if something truly had occurred.
"Looks as though your wife has run away as well" Anne joked.
"I'm sorry?" he replied as he was lost in thought and had only heard half of what the woman had said.
"I made a joke about Sandra not coming back, don't worry Robert I'm sure she hasn't actually run away" Anne replied putting her hand on his arm tying to reassure him that her joke was just a joke.
"You didn't see her come back in and head to the loo by any chance?" he asked hopefully.
"No I'm sorry but that doesn't mean that isn't where she is" she tried again to make him feel better.
"Yes of course you're right" he agreed though he didn't actually believe it was likely.
"You said that call was from her assistant?"
"Yes and it could have been about work. Which is exactly the reason we aren't supposed to bring them I know but Sandra can be hard to reason with." He sighed in frustration knowing the actual reason for the call was entirely work related.
"Don't worry I have mine back in the bungalow. I personally feel most rules are meant to be broken. But do you think the call could be serious enough that she has to deal with it right now?"
"Yes you might be right I think, I should have a look around and see if I can find her make sure no one has been hurt or something like that" he replied standing up.
"Good plan I will stay here and keep an eye out, if she comes back I promise I won't let her leave. We can't have both of you disappearing" she promised him with a smile.
"Thank you Anne" he said before nearly bolting out of the room to begin his search. On his way he asked several of the servers if they had seen her and they all said no. He checked the bathrooms just in case as well as the offices. He didn't think she would go poking around without him but he had to check. When he came up empty he returned to the main hall and went through the door she had used to leave the building.
He suddenly felt foolish for not insisting that he bring his mobile phone with him as well. They all thought Sandra's phone would be enough to make any calls. But now she was missing and she had taken the phone with her making it harder to get in touch with her team.
Outside he looked around, there was no immediate sign of her much to his dismay. He had secretly hoped to find her standing there still on the phone talking to Jack. Keeping to the sidewalks he rushed back to their bungalow only to find it dark and empty. He needed to get in touch with Jack and to do that he needed a phone. The only phones were the ones back in the main building and reluctantly he set off the way he came. He wanted to run as fear for Sandra's safety had turned to near panic. But he didn't want to risk arising suspicion, using all the control he had he walked quickly back towards the dining hall. He was only a few meters away from the door when the light caught something under one of the bushes. He knelt down and picked up Sandra's mobile phone and his heart jumped into his throat. He couldn't breathe for a moment and he tried to come up with some reason why she would have left her phone under the bush but came up with nothing. Something was wrong, very wrong. Sandra was missing. He checked the phone to make sure it wasn't damaged and when it wasn't he used it.
"Sandra?" Jack answered on the third ring sounding confused.
"Jack it's me" he replied impatiently.
"Sir may I ask my you are using Sandra's phone?"
"Please tell me she is with you?" he practically begged the man.
"No she isn't why? What's going on?" Jack demanded as fear began to creep into his voice as well.
"I can't find her, she never came back after you called her, she never came back." He cried the terror dripping from his voice. Something was very wrong.
"That was nearly an hour ago" Jack exclaimed.
"I found her phone under a bush. Something is wrong Jack I think someone has taken her."
"Bloody hell, where have you looked?"
"Everywhere I could think of, the main building and our bungalow no sign of her." He replied becoming impatient, they needed to be doing something to find her right now.
"She is likely still on the grounds somewhere. Where are you?" Jack asked him.
"Outside the main building, the back side facing the bungalows. We have to find her Jack" he demanded becoming almost hysterical.
"I know but we need to be careful. I am coming to you right now, stay exactly where you are, nothing is safe at the moment."
"Right, hurry Jack" he pleaded with the older man as he hung up the phone.
A minute or two later he saw two officers and Jack come around the building and one of the officers had a dog with him. Robert had never been so happy to see them and he almost hugged Jack but wisely held his emotions back.
"Sir" Jack cried out at they reached him.
"We need to find her" he repeated himself when he was close enough to the older man.
"I know, sir this is Tom and this is Sid they are here to help. Tom over there with Trixie is going to lead the way. Trixie is really good at smelling for bombs if she barks you freeze exactly where you are understand?" Jack asked explaining the rules of the search to him as he introduced the other two men.
"Yes please we just need to find her, where do you think we should start?" He asked frantically, the addition of the bomb sniffing dog had sent his anxiety level through the roof. The situation was highly dangerous and Sandra was out there somewhere.
"If you wanted to hide someone around here the bungalows are the likely place. I say we start with the empty ones." Jack suggested taking a quick look around.
"Agreed" he nodded eager to begin and slowly Tom and Trixie lead the way. "I don't understand why someone would take her?" he added as they walked.
"Bennett clearly suspected her or you and he took her to hurt you, he does think she is your wife" Jack pointed out.
"So all of this could be my fault?" he moaned in dismay. He began running over every conversation he had with the horrible man trying to find where his mistake had been.
"Possibly or he could be lashing out at his own wife by taking someone she was friendly with. When we get Bennett we can ask him."
"Jack I think you should know Sandra and I-"
"Gerry already told me, we can discuss that later once we find her." Jack told him firmly trying to end the conversation but he wasn't ready to stop yet he needed to make something clear.
"Then you can understand why I keep telling you we have to find her. I know you and Gerry and Brian care deeply for her but I…I love her Jack."
"We are going to find her and your relationship status has no bearing on how hard we look" the older man growled at him.
"Sorry I didn't mean to suggest…that was not my intention…"
"I know you didn't and I'm sorry, I know how you are feeling. Sandra is important to all of us and we will find her." Jack told him with a sigh. "Not exactly used to sharing her with others if you must know" he grumbled.
"I understand, but Jack I will never forgive myself if something happens to her, this is all my fault."
"What did I just say, we will find her and this is not your fault, this is Charles Bennett's doing no one else." Jack told him leaving no room for argument.
A/N Sorry to end on a bit of a cliffhanger, I usually try to avoid them but this seems like a natural place to end the chapter. Thank you for reading!
