A/N: Thanks for the reviews, bhar, Caranath, unobtrusive, Sprite, lilith, leya, zenfrodo, Jackie, Vinsmouse and NenaSue! Very much appreciated! Have a great holiday weekend for those in the States and thanks very much to those reading!

Chapter 14

Nancy stirred in the passenger seat of the sedan, then jerked herself awake. She shook her head and turned to see a smiling Frank.

"Oh, no, did I fall asleep?" She pulled herself to a sitting position. "Frank, why did you let me do that?"

"You were tired."

"I know, but you're not supposed to sleep on a stake-out."

"Nothing's happening."

Nancy yawned. "Nothing?"

"Nope, I think they're all asleep, too."

"What time is it?"

"Almost four." Frank leaned back in his seat. "Maybe I'll just close my eyes for a few minutes while you take over."

"Good idea." Nancy leaned over and kissed him. "Nighty-night."

OOOoooOOO

Joe felt like he was floating outside of his body, but something was pulling him back.

What was it?

Someone was shaking him. Geez, it hurt. Stop it.

He struggled to force his eyes open. Struggled to make his limbs move. There was a voice. A female voice.

Emily? Baby, is that you? No, not Emily. Someone else. Who?

"Wake up. Please wake up." The voice sounded desperate.

Joe's eyes slowly parted, then closed as the beam of a flashlight shone over his face.

"At last." Amy smiled.

"W-who?" Joe gasped out. "Who are you?"

"I'm Amy. Who are you and why are you down here?"

Joe paused, trying to remember where he was. "I'm Joe."

"What did you do to the Sanders? Why did they bring you here?"

The Sanders. Joe remembered now. And Amy. This was Amy Baxter, the girl they'd been trying so hard to find.

Joe opened his eyes again. "Um, the Sanders want my girlfriend, Emily, and I guess they thought I was in the way." Joe didn't want to startle the girl or tell her that he was there to rescue her until he could come up with some sort of workable plan. Which had better be soon.

"Is she pregnant?"

"Who?"

"Your girlfriend."

"Um, yeah, yeah. She's pregnant." Joe tried to raise himself to a sitting position.

"Wow, and you didn't leave her?"

"Of course not." Joe clutched his stomach, still sore from Harold's sucker punch. "I love her."

"Well, I hope they don't get her then," Amy said. "They're horrible people. They're going to take my baby from me."

She ran her hand across her swollen abdomen, and Joe noticed for the first time how pregnant she was. Oh, crap. She was way bigger than Emily.

"Listen Amy, how did you get down here?"

"Harold is sleeping right now, and I had to take the chance. I didn't know what was going on. I was afraid he'd kidnapped another girl."

"How many girls are here right now?" Joe asked.

"Three."

"And are they all as far along as you are?"

"Pretty much." Amy shrugged. "We're all just a few weeks apart. Kimberley is due any day now."

Joe briefly closed his eyes. How was he going to do this? Three very pregnant girls. Frank, where the hell are you?

OOOoooOOO

Nancy shook Frank. "Wake up, honey. Rose is going to her car."

Frank sat up quickly, rubbed his eyes and started the engine. "Let's hope she leads us right to Joe."

"Yeah." Nancy watched as the nurse, who seemed completely oblivious to her surroundings, drove past them. Frank waited for a moment, then pulled out and followed her. She turned onto a main road and Frank stayed two cars behind her.

"It looks like she's stopping at this pharmacy," Nancy said, as Rose entered a parking lot.

"Damn," Frank commented. "I wish we hadn't met her the other day. I'd love to go in there and find out what she's buying."

Nancy glanced around her. "Frank, this place isn't even open."

They watched as Rose knocked on the front door. In a moment, it opened and she stepped inside.

"She must be getting stuff under the table," Frank said. "That could be anything."

"And not anything good." Nancy sighed, filled with worry for the girls and Joe.

OOOoooOOO

"Listen, Amy," Joe told the young girl. "I'm going to try to find a way to get us out of here."

Amy shook her head. "There isn't a way. The doors and windows are all booby-trapped. We're never alone."

"You came down here," Joe pointed out.

"Yeah," she said softly. "That's true."

"I'm going to need your help, though. I can't come up with a plan if they keep drugging me."

"That's Nurse Rose. She's always threatening us with her needles if we act up."

"Yeah, well she's doing more than just threatening me." Joe thought for a moment. "No doubt Rose and Mrs. Sanders' husband are going to come down here this morning. I'm going to pretend to be out of it, but I'm going to need your help so that they don't shoot me up again."

"What can I do?"

"Can you fake some labor pains or something like that?"

Amy smiled. "You bet I can."

Joe grinned back. "Then that's what I need you to do. You have to distract them enough so that they leave me alone."

"Okay, but what about the handcuffs?"

"I can get out of these if I have something to work the lock with," Joe said. "They're not very strong."

Amy pulled a clip out of her hair. "Would this work?"

He took it and looked at the metal fastener. "Yeah, I think it will."

Amy smiled at him. "Thank you for wanting to help us."

He patted her arm. "Don't worry. We're going to get out of here. I promise."

She nodded. "Here, why don't you keep the flashlight? You'll need it to see your handcuffs." She turned and slipped back up the staircase.

Joe sighed and went to work on the lock. Time to come up with something brilliant, Hardy.

OOOoooOOO

Agent McClafferty looked up briefly from her phone conversation as Emily entered the living room of the hotel suite.

"That's awful," she said into the receiver. "When did this happen?" She sighed. "These people are monsters if they can do that to someone in cold blood. Yeah, call me when you know more."

She hung up the phone and turned to find Emily gripping the back of an arm chair, her face ashen and her body shaking.

"Is it Joe?" she whispered.

"No, honey," Agent McClafferty said, putting her arm around Emily's shoulders and leading her over to the couch. "That had nothing to do with Joe." She sat down with Emily. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to scare you."

Emily exhaled an unsteady breath. "Who was it then? Someone's hurt."

Agent McClafferty nodded. "I'm afraid so. It's Jodie, the Sanders' secretary. Her car was hit and slid down a ravine."

Emily's mouth opened in disbelief but she couldn't say anything.

"She's in the hospital right now in critical condition."

OOOoooOOO

Frank stayed far behind Rose's sedan as it turned into another neighborhood.

"That wasn't a very large bag she got at the pharmacy," Nancy commented.

"No, just big enough for pills," Frank said grimly.

"She's stopping."

Frank slowed his car as Rose pulled her Volkswagen into the driveway of a one-story brick home. "That's got to be it. This has to be where she has Joe."

OOOoooOOO

Joe heard the front door to the house open and voices talking above him.

Here goes nothing, he thought as he heard footsteps approaching.

The basement door opened and Harold and Rose descended the steps.

"He's still out," Harold said.

Rose shrugged. "He must be really sensitive to the sedative. It happens."

"Maybe you should give him another dose," Harold suggested. "Then he'll be out for the rest of the day."

Before Rose could reply, a cry was heard from upstairs. "Help, I think my water broke!"

"Oh, damn it," Harold said. "Not today."

"You'd better go alert Doc Porter." Rose said as they both turned and ran back up the stairs.

Joe sat up and removed the handcuffs he had unlocked earlier. "Good girl, Amy," he whispered aloud. "Now, let's get everyone out of here."

OOOoooOOO

Nancy and Frank were just about to exit their car and try to figure out how to get into the brick house, when Harold Sanders dashed out the front door.

"Frank," Nancy said. "That's the guy who followed us to the ice cream place."

Frank nodded. "Yeah, and he seems to be in a big hurry."

Harold jumped into the VW and flew out of the driveway and down the street.

Nancy looked at him. "Do you think that means Rose is alone in the house?"

Frank grinned. "One way to find out."

OOOoooOOO

Joe looked around the basement for something he could use as a weapon.

Finally, he pulled a piece of wood off one of the orange crates. If he swung it hard enough, it would do some damage.

He snuck up the stairs and paused at the top while he tried the door handle. It had been left unlocked, just as he'd hoped. He stepped through and closed it quietly behind him.

Leaning against the wall, he listened. There seemed to be commotion coming from the back of the house. He heard Amy crying out in mock pain, and Rose's voice trying to calm her down.

Joe crept along the hallway, and replaced the board from the orange crate with a candlestick from a hall table.