Chapter Eleven

'We have been going at this for a little over fourteen hours now, does anyone have anything that might just contain some vital information?' Russell sighed as he threw his body down in the chair next to The President. The situation room fell silent, everyone exchanging unhelpful glances at one another and looking to the screen before them; where all four men's images were displayed.

'Right, someone give me a recap one more time and then I think we need to break, get a coffee or a Scotch' Russell moaned.

'So we have managed to trace down the Black van which they used through street CCTV imaging, we can identify that about five minutes down the road they jumped out this van and into another vehicle, we believe this white van here' Ellen started giving a recount of event, clicking through the projected images on the screen before them highlighting what she was talking about. 'From this we lose them, they've taken roads which have no cameras, or at least no working cameras. We know from the CIA searching Ray's house that he had a street map with every single road in DC with no cameras highlighted, giving us no clear indication as to where he is heading. Ray's home is full of pictures of the secretary, most downloaded from the internet we believe with one or two possibly taken himself or taken by the press. We know that Sam, his cousin, has a sick mother, and it's believed from communication traced back a few months ago that Ray has promised him ransom to aid his mothers medical bills. The other two men are involved but the motives remain unclear, we're assuming ransom as well. Aside from that we have no clear leads as to where the Secret-' she was cut off by the Situation door swinging open revealing a flustered Henry.

'My phone, it's ringing. It won't stop ringing' he stumbled up on his words, his eyes staring down at the screen as it continued to flash.

'Henry you cannot just storm your way into the situation room and inform us that your phone does exactly what a phone is supposed to do!' Russell mocked with a level of anger beneath his words. He looked at Conrad shaking his head.

'No, no this is my personal phone. No one has this number. No one except my kids, Blake, Nadine, Russell, Conrad, Elizabeth's DS agents and Elizabeth…' he trailed off looking up at everyone in the room, the fear in all their eyes finally matching his as they understood the magnitude this call potentially held. Whispers and mummers began to dance around the room as speculation began to arise.

'Everyone Shh! Henry answer it but, Do not say anything, It could have implications' Conrad warned. Henry accepted the call, switching the phone on loudspeaker.

'Get off me! Ray Get off!' Elizabeth screamed in the distance. Henry had to clasp a hand over his mouth as his emotions surfaced. A small silent cry of relief that she was alive rushed through him, threatening to escape his lips. Whilst the other half of him drowned in sorrow hearing her scream the way she was. Henry's hand shook violently, he handed the phone to Ephram and stepped to the back of the situation room; unable to be that close to the distress but not able to tear his ears away completely.

Ephram hit mute on their speaker and placed the phone on the table, hooking it up to CIA equipment as they frantically tried to trace the call.

'It's on mute, but everyone keep quiet' he whispered

'Noooo, NO please I beg you, Please NOOOOOOOO' her screams vibrated through the phone, the sheer volume of her cries made it sound like she was in the room. Henry thrust his hands over his ears, digging his nails into the back of his head as her screams haunted him. Tears tantalised his eyes as he held his emotions in through fear of causing too much noise. Bile rose up in his throat, burning his body as he pushed it back down again.

'Shut up you stupid bitch!' Ray's voice came over the speaker and the sound of something being hit, which they all presumed was Elizabeth, came next.

'Henry, Henry help me' her words staggered as she whimpered, her sobs ripping through everyone in the room. Conrad sniffled as he looked away, Russell glancing down at the floor, avoiding any eye contact with anyone. Ellen wiped a stray tear as Ephram tried his best to ignore the call and work with his colleague to secure the location.

'No!' Ephram shouted as the call cut out. 'Damn it!' He snapped picking up Henry's phone. Henry turned on the spot, he quickly wiped his tears and snivelled as he walked over to the table.

'I think his phone died, I couldn't get the exact location' He sighed.

'Where did you get?' Conrad asked, or rather, hoped he got somewhere close.

'Urm, here' he typed at the laptop and protected the image of a map before them. 'Potomac Riverside, it started to draw in around City Marina, down here' he enlarged the image, highlighting the area on the map. Henry walked towards the screen.

'Around here-' he paused and cleared his throat as his words were broken. 'Sorry, Around here, the back of the Marina is an old abandoned site, it probably has some sort of warehouse or a shipping container, what if he has gone here?' Henry asked turning to everyone

'It's plausible, in his home there were talks about containers and things being in plain sight, could he be making reference to shipping containers?' Ellen reasoned

'Sir when they were in UVA, Jeffery and Ray used to skip class all the time down at the marina, he was fixated with ships and docks. I remember Elizabeth asking him once, she came home and told me, He said it's the best place because no one ever looks down an old shipment yard,'' Henry recalled, images of his wife and that very conversation playing vividly In his mind.

'City Marina is a fourteen minute drive from here Sir'

'Hidden in plain sight' Ellen repeated.

'Get there, NOW. And you better tell them that I want that fourteen minutes turned into Seven' Conrad ordered

'Right away sir' Ephram and Ellen continued to round up the forces as Henry walked over to Conrad. All of them were silenced and stunned by the insufferable moment they had just experienced.

'Sir-'

'Go Henry, Just wait until it's secure and then go' Conrad ordered and he nodded, his head frantically shaking as his body spun around lunging for the door, desperate for air.

'Henry' Russell called, he glanced over his shoulder and looked him directly In the eye

'They travelled in a white Van with Blacked out windows, if it's there then she might be. I hope she is there' He sighed heavily.

'Me too, Sorry about barging in here-'

'I'll give you a free pass this time. Go' Russell waved him out of the room. His hands leant down on the table as he looked at Conrad.

'And now we wait'

'And now we wait…' Conrad echoed