Just past the Astro Restaurant, Kyle found an ally and pulled the car into it. The passenger seat contained the items he'd bought with the hundred bucks Amanda had left on the table. The length of pipe, and rope. He cut two sections off of it and bound her wrists and ankles together. Surprisingly, on E. 59th Avenue, right there in Manhattan, had been a goddamn Home Depot.

He backed the car out of the alley and started driving towards Beacon.

Amanda woke up a few minutes later. "What the FUCK do you think you're doing? Are you out of your motherfucking mind, Kyle?"

Kyle wanted to slap her. "You could have just paid the million. It would have been easy, It would have been nothing to a cunt like you that just throws your hundreds around, But noooo, you had to be an uppity bitch and be superior didn't you? you had to rub my nose in how good you got it, didn't you? Thanks for the cash, bitch. I used it to buy the fucking rope I tied you up with. Not so smart now, are you, you cunt."

Amanda collected herself. "This doesn't have to get any fucking worse, you know. Just stop, untie me, and let me go. I've got about three grand in my purse. You can take it. I won't press charges. We both know things like this don't turn out well. I'm giving you a chance to knock this the fuck off. Do it. "

Kyle shook his head. "Nope, that's not enough. And listen, you're not in fucking charge, got it? There's a lot of places you can just disappear into if you keep pissing me the fuck off. This is better. I can get more money now, and the family will pay it. Now shut the fuck up or I'll gag your ass."

Well fuck.

She made herself comfy, at least as much as she could in the cramped seat, and she decided to keep her mouth shut for now, which was a fucking miracle, considering. She wasn't sure how long they drove but it had to be at least an hour.

Kyle stopped, got out, drove the car in a bit, got back out, did something, then pulled the car further and stopped. He got out and pulled the driver's side seat forward and hauled her out, and stuffed the strap of her purse in her hands. He carried her under an overhang, unlocked the door, and then carried her down a musty hall to an empty room. He left, returned with a grocery back, and then he untied her ankles but left her wrists bound.

"I put all this shit in here. I guess subconsciously I had a sixth sense I was bringing you here. I guess deep down, I knew you'd be like you were." He tossed the grocery back on the floor next to her. "Bought these too. I guess I got them for you." He opened her purse and took out her cell phone, and then took all the cash in her wallet too. She hadn't lied, there was easily three grand here, and it pissed him off that she was just carrying about four months worth of his paychecks right in her fucking purse.

"Kyle, you're a fucking idiot. Do you really think you're going to pull this off? Does ANYONE ever pull this off?" Amanda stared daggers at him.

"I guess we'll see, won't we? It's not any of your fucking business. Now I'm gonna make something clear, right now. I really don't fucking like this new you. I don't like being talked down to, and now that you've pissed me off, I am not going to hesitate at all to take you down a few pegs if I need to. Keep it up and I won't hesitate to hurt you. Once I make you cry, you'll see who the fuck is the boss here. We'll see just how much of this new you is real, and how much is just image." He shut the door on her and she heard it lock.

Amanda thought in her head. "Entity, this is gonna sound really fucking stupid, but bring me back. Some asshole kidnapped me. Un fucking believable."

Of course she'd immediately return to the real world after the Entity collected her, and when she did, it would be to the woods at the cabin, but she could get a plane back to New York. It was a pain in the ass but she could deal. She held her purse by the strap and waited.

****************************************************************************************

The Entity heard Amanda speak to it. How had she been kidnapped? The Entity was displeased. First the shipwreck, and now kidnapping. It was becoming blatantly obvious that the real world was much more dangerous and uncontrolled than its realm. It certainly did not like its favorite human female being in danger. Perhaps it needed to infuse them both with killer abilities in addition to the others that were available in the realm, for their own protection. No wonder they wanted to live in the realm forever, when terrible things had happened to them now two out of the five times they had returned.

It saw where she was, and the fogbank started. It crept closer and closer to the grounds of her location...And then it was shoved backwards away from the grounds. The fog was repelled back at some sort of an invisible barrier. There was an energy surrounding the grounds. It was not evil, more an energy of years of years of pain and sorrow. It covered the entire property like an invisible dome. It did not sense that Amanda would be in any danger if she remained there, but it would not let the fog pass.

The Entity was displeased again. Twice now, the human it regarded so highly, and who considered the Entity her friend, had been in situations of danger in the real world that had challenged its abilities outside of the realm. It had eventually been successful in its rescue attempt the first time, and now in this second instance, it was powerless entirely. It did not like the feeling of powerlessness.

More...Amanda and Jake belonged to its realm. They were willing and eager to remain immortal in it. They almost allowed themselves to belong to the Entity itself. Now she had been taken from it. It understood the irony of the fact that a human in the real world had done what the Entity itself did. Collect an unwitting human and bring them against their will to a different location. But that, in the Entity's line of thinking, was where the similarities ended.

The humans of its realm were in fear of it, but they were allowed to move as freely as if they were in the real world, and it healed them from their wounds, did not let them age, and would eventually return them, unless they'd been collected at the point of dying, exactly to the same time and place it had found them.

This human had taken the Entity's prize and likely had no plans to do what the Entity did for the humans it claimed. This human was holding her captive and likely attempting to traumatize her for his or her own gain. If the Entity could pull Amanda's kidnapper to its realm, it would use all the killers at its disposal to punish the orchestrator of her kidnapping in ways that were unfathomable.

But it couldn't. She and the kidnapper were cut off from it. It had no way to tell her it could not get to her. Eventually, she would realize it on her own. But it seethed in its rage. It, like Amanda, would have to wait. If she could find a way to escape and make it to a distance outside of the grounds, it could pull her safely to the realm then.

It was really beginning to question what was so enjoyable from this real world. They had of course enjoyed several trips back that were quietly pleasant, but now they had two experiences that were unpleasant. The real world, the Entity felt, was far more dangerous than its own private realm. All of the dangers here were organized, and protections were in place. In the real world, things happened at random and there were no protections at all.

Perhaps it needed to find a way to not only provide Amanda and Jake with the temporary abilities they had as survivors, but the abilities of a killer as well. Jake had no experience, but Amanda could teach him. And one thing was definitely a guarantee. If Amanda had possessed her abilities as the Pig, this human that kidnapped her would already be dead at her feet.

It hadn't been able to give Amanda both abilities when she was at the Legion camp, but it was a God. If it worked at it, it could find a way to give them both abilities. If Jake declined, Amanda would accept, and then she could protect him with them. It would spend its free time until Amanda and Jake came back working out how to instill both killer and survivor abilities in them both. Eventually, it knew it would develop a solution.

Still displeased, the Entity started a trial. At least it would help it take its mind off of the situation at hand.

****************************************************************************************

She waited, and waited, and waited, and nothing happened. It had to have heard her, but for some reason, it could not get to her. She had no way to ask it why. But in the interim, she was stuck here. But she got to thinking about the house's design. The overhang that Kyle had noticed was also something she had noticed.

An overhang like that was usually something found on a funeral home. In their conversation with the Entity after they had been rescued from the Ocean Princess, it had told them that the powers of its fog could not pass into a place that was flooded with paranormal energy, or a place that had seen a lot of pain and anguish.

This house definitely seemed to fit the bill in both categories. There was a heaviness to the air. Was the place haunted? She didn't buy into horror movie bullshit, like the house was haunted by some vengeful ghost that was going to murder her in her sleep, but based on what she'd seen of the place, she could believe that it was haunted by *A* ghost, and even if it wasn't threatening, she'd probably shit herself, if she had the ability to do so, if she woke up one night to find whatever ghost it was staring at her.

Hopefully it was the other reason. Pain and anguish energy. Aside from the overhang, the glimpse she'd seen of the house didn't scream that it had once been a funeral home. So what else could it have been if not a funeral home? She had yet to find an answer.

She hoped that this situation was resolved quickly. If the fog couldn't get her now, it wouldn't be able to get her at the end of the two weeks, and the longer she stayed past that, the closer she'd get to age 37, and her ability to heal from things Kyle had done to her, like the smack from whatever he'd used to knock her unconscious, would begin taking longer and longer to recover and heal from, and eventually, she wouldn't heal from them at all.

Fuck. She'd feared being eventually recognized, and she had been, but it hadn't been by who she'd feared. Instead, it was some broke ex who increasingly bore her a grudge for his personal and financial situation. It was definitely a curveball. Amanda shifted onto her knees, and spread out the shit on the mattress with her bound together hands until she'd made it into a bed. She could tell that everything had been washed, like the towels, but it still bore a smell of being left on a shelf for a while afterwards. Still, it was better than it being dirty.

**************************************************************************************

The NYPD's 19th Precinct, serving the Upper East Side of Manhattan, was its usual flurry of activity. At one of the desks a gray-haired man was reviewing a case file regarding a string of sexual assaults that had occurred among several subway stations in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and the Bronx.

The man's name was Joe Fontana. A 25-year veteran of the police force, with 20 of those years with the 19th. Fontana was one of several detectives that had been brought in for a joint investigation on the sexual assaults, now totalling six, that had sent one victim into a coma.

He hated perps who sexually assaulted victims as much as he hated murderers. That kind of an offense scarred a woman for life. The physical scars healed, but the emotional scars were there forever. But the son of a bitch seemed to be clairvoyant. They'd station people around the stations until manpower forced them to be called away for other police business, and then, the son of a bitch would strike again. They'd not occurred in any set pattern, but had been stretched out for a period of over two months.

He was lost in the case file when his superior, Captain Ed. Stryker, came to stand by his desk. "I gotta put you on something else temporarily. I want a senior man on it."

Fontana leaned back in his chair. His suit was not ultra-expensive, but it seemed well beyond what a man of his means could afford. The shirt was silk, the tie expensive, and he wore italian loafers. You got it Cap. What is it?"

"It's a kidnapping," Stryker told him. You're more of a liaison than the lead investigator. It's going to be overseen by the FBI."

That confused Fontana. "How long ago was it? Do we have proof that the victim was transported across state lines? If not, then it should still be our baby."

Stryker shook his head. "No, we don't know, and frankly, I'd rather have the FBI in the driver's seat on this too. It's not a random victim. You ever heard of Jackson Park?"

Fontana nodded. "By reputation. It's hard not to know the name. You're not saying that somebody kidnapped him, are you? Doesn't he usually look over his shoulder?"

"He does, but it's not him that was kidnapped," said Stryker. "He's got a son, Jake Park. Married, a woman named Amanda. They were at the Museum of Modern Art and somebody snagged her while they were in the parking garage. Jackson Park is a multi-billionaire. It's likely for cash, but if it goes belly-up, I'd rather it be the FBI's mess than our own."

Fontana nodded. He could certainly understand that. Plus, kidnappings were a crapshoot. If she saw the kidnapper's faces, even if the ransom was paid, they might not release her alive. It could get very messy, very quickly.

Stryker instructed him, "Go out there, get a preliminary statement from the husband and the FBI investigators will be on-scene probably in a few hours. Jackson is making the call to the FBI himself, and he's got the cout to make it happen. Keep me in the loop."

Fontana jotted down the address of the Park residence and snagged the keys to an unmarked departmental Dodge Charger. It was a comfortable car, and he was glad the automobile company had decided to resurrect it.

*******************************************************************************************

"Peter?"

Strahm looked up at his doorway. FBI Section Chief Gordon Cole was standing in it. Cole adjusted his new hearing aid and said, "Pack a bag, you're going to New York."

Strahm chuckled. "Sending me on a vacation? Nah, too early for that. Besides, you've been pushing me to assist in finding additional connections and charges on Congressman Ney. So, what's going on?"

Cole smiled and said, "It's definitely not a vacation. You're going to be working on a kidnapping case."

And that confused him, and Strahm couldn't stop his eyebrows from raising. "A kidnapping case in New York? We're in Boston. We've got a New York office that is more than capable to investigate a kidnapping if it crossed state lines. Why are you sending me there?"

Cole stepped into Strahm's office and almost entirely closed the door before he answered. "I just got off the phone with Jackson Park. Your services were personally requested by his son, Jake. Mr. Park said that you knew Jake peripherally, and that Jake was married to an acquaintance of yours. Ordinarily I would not allow an agent with a personal history with the victim coordinate a kidnapping investigation like this, but Park is a billionaire and I know you well enough to know that you can remain emotionally detached. It's the son's wife that's been kidnapped. Amanda Park." He held up two tickets. "Your flight leaves in an hour. Due to the high profile of Jackson Park, I'm sending you and someone of your choosing. You can obviously request additional assistance from the agents in the New York office."

Amanda Park. he knew her indeed. Jesus, first a near-death experience on a cruise, and now she'd been kidnapped? Immediately Strahm's brain went into overdrive. It could, because he knew her prior history backwards and forwards, and was aware that Amanda Young's life included a long list of deadbeats. If she was kidnapped, it had to be by a person that knew her from before, saw her on T.V., and realized there was money to be milked from the man she'd married. It just didn't seem like a random grab by someone anonymous. It could be, but he felt his instincts were correct. Maybe it an ex-boyfriend, someone that used to beat on her. He shook his dead wryly. Was there really a difference between her ex boyfriends and the guys that used to beat on her? Not really. The poor woman had let herself be pounded on by a lot of assholes that would be despicable enough to try to use her to get cash. Strahm got to his feet and said, "I'll be on the next flight. Perez is coming with me." Cole nodded as Strahm passed him out the door.

Already Strahm continued working out a profile on Amanda's kidnapper. He'd get further details from Jake, but he was confident his initial guess about the person who was behind this was right. Strahm entered the bullpen of cubicles for the more junior agents and crept up on Lindsey Perez at her desk. She was on the phone, and he waited until she hung up until he cleared his throat and she looked at him. "Come on," Strahm told her. "We've got to go."

Lindsey looked at him, mildly surprised. "Go where? It must be big, because since your promotion, they don't let us go out into the field together very often." Her and Strahm's former superior hadn't joined them in the field during the Jigsaw case even after she'd been injured, though he'd have put in an appearance if Strahm had been as well as her. Ordinarily, he'd send her and another agent into the field and let them report to him. If he was going out himself...Something big was going on.

As she packed up a few things from her desk, Strahm told her briefly, "Kidnapping. Amanda Park. She's the wife of Jake Park, who just so happens to be the son of the billionaire, Jackson Park."

Lindsey sighed. "Somebody saw her and saw a big payday, huh? Like the Getty kid." That was the price the rich sometimes paid for their wealth. Some of them even had security details. This Amanda Park woman apparently hadn't. She probably would after this though.

Strahm shrugged. "Maybe. I agree with you to a point. I think it was someone that saw her on T.V. too, but I don't think the kidnapper is random. I'm leaning more towards it being an ex-boyfriend. Whatever it is, Jackson Park wouldn't have called here directly and asked for us if it wasn't important. On the basis of full-disclosure, I should let you know that I'm an acquaintance of the husband, Jake Park, and the victim. That's the primary reason we're jumping jurisdiction and going to New York. Pack for a few days, I'll pick you up."

She finished collecting her things and followed Strahm out of the offices." An ex, huh? Does a woman of Amanda Park's social standing know anyone that would be shady enough to kidnap her? I saw part of the interview she did with Brian Williams, she doesn't seem like the type to fraternize with the lowbrow."

It would all eventually come out anyway, so Strahm told her, "She's made a good life for herself, but before she married Park, she had a tough life. I know a little about her, and to answer your question, yes. In her younger years, she would have associated with a deadbeat or two that would try something like this. Despite her appearance now, she didn't come from any money. In fact, she came from almost nothing."

They separated at the parking lot. Strahm handed her a ticket, and they'd snag a department vehicle from the NYPD FBI office after they got to New York. He'd be by to snag her 45 minutes or so. He drove as fast as he dared to his house and packed a bag while his wife, Lauren, chatted with him. He gave her a few cliff notes.

"Do you know what her astrology sign is on the Chinese Zodiac calendar?"

Strahm looked at her and tried to remember her case file. "I think she was born in 1970. But you're the one that knows about all that stuff, not me."

Lauren said, "Then she'd fall under the dog. 2007 is the year of the Pig."

Strahm smiled. "Well, then, what about me. Is there anything that I need to be aware of before I go galivanting off to New York?"

Lauren thought for a moment. "It's still early in 2007, so there are periods when caution should be exercised when entering into any formal agreements, and when communication or transportation delays and mishaps could disrupt your plans."

Strahm smiled and kissed her. "Let's hope there's no transportation delays before I get from here to New York City. I'm not sure how long I'm going to be away, but I'll check in with you every night."

He carried his bag out to his car and headed off in the direction of Perez' apartment. If Amanda had been present to overhear the conversation between himself and Lauren, she would have found it quite amusing to know that 2007 was the year of the Pig. She may not have been born in a Pig year, but when it came to animals, Amanda's kinship was closer to the Pig than anyone else's.

***********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

It was afternoon before Wade stopped by the former Craig House to see how things had gone. Kyle let him in. He was eating a bowl of canned spaghetti that he'd heated on the little burner.

"So I'm guessing you drove down to New York today and made contact. How did it go? When is she giving you the money?"

Kyle took a bite from the bowl. "It didn't go as planned. She already told her asshole husband that she was trailer trash and he married her anyway, don't ask me why. She told me to leave her alone or her hubby would pound my dick into the dirt."

Wade shook his head. "Well, shit. It was a good try I guess. You gonna stick around for the week? I suppose you can, or at least a couple of days so you can relax, that was a long-ass drive from Tennessee, I'm sure."

Kyle smiled. "Nothing to worry about, man. I got it covered. I found a way for us to both make even more money off of her than the million bucks. Come here, I'll show you."

Wade followed him, wondering what Kyle's fresh money-making scheme was. Kyle unlocked the door to the patient room Wade had shown him during the tour and Wade's eyes widened in horror when he came face-to-face with the very pissed off woman with her wrists bound that was sitting on the mattress on the floor. She'd taken off her boots and socks and was barefoot with her legs out in front of her, her back leaning against the wall.

It took him almost a full minute to find the ability to speak, and the woman on the floor glared between the both of them the whole time. "Kyle...What...The FUCK...Have you done?"

Kyle finished his food. "It's no problem, man. I'm telling you. A mill is chump change, we can probably get 10 million out of her for a ransom, easy."

Wade grabbed him by the collar and slammed him against the wall. "First of all, you didn't fucking even ASK me before you did this. Second of all, she's seen your fucking face and now she's fucking seen mine! She's gonna rat you out to the goddamn cops the first chance she gets! DUMBASS!"

The woman finally spoke. It was quiet and dripping with disdain. "I was sent up once on a phony drug charge. I don't know where we are, and I promise you this can all go away. I don't know your name, and I don't have to tell the cops any of this. Give me my purse, and a couple hundred out of the cash Kyle stole from my purse, I'll get a cab back to Manhattan and this will all be over. But he better not show his face ever again. Look in my eyes. I want to go home. If not ratting you out lets me do it, I won't." Amanda glanced at them both. It was a last chance, she knew, to nip this in the bud before it got out of hand. She made her eyes as honest as she possibly could as she stared between them.

Wade looked at her and while he was nervous as Hell trusting her at her word, he was even more nervous about what would happen if this all went fucking sideways. He dragged Kyle from the room and shut the door.

"She's talking sense. Jesus fucking CHRIST, Kyle. Kidnapping is a federal charge, and she's the daughter-in-law of a fucking billionaire. You know the first thing the Park family is going to do is call in the fucking feds. We've got to turn her the fuck loose. I mean, this is far beyond anything I've had on a wrap sheet, and I do not want to spend years in a federal penitentiary. "

Kyle shook his head. "Oh, you're gonna trust her word that she won't immediately call the cops as soon as she leaves? I don't believe her. Not at all. We get the money and we leave her here. If they find her, great, if not, Oh well. I'm gonna demand 10 million. That's five apiece. We get out of the U.S. and get to a nice place that has no extradition laws. We can disappear easily with five million bucks at our disposal."

He was drunk on the idea of the money, and 10 million was something that the Parks could afford, for sure, but how in the fuck was he going to get it and not get caught? They were for damn sure going to watch the cash drop site. Still, he knew that Kyle was not going to let her go now. The only way to go forward was to play it his way, for now. If he released her, she'd probably still abide by the deal. He just needed to wait for the right time.

"Fine," Wade told him. "We'll play it your way. I'm gonna check out the room and make sure all the plumbing runs with no issues. It should be good, we know the sink works, but I want to test the tub and the toilet."

Kyle nodded and walked to the kitchen with his bowl. Wade opened the door and shut it behind him. He spoke fast and low, "I'm gonna play along with him for now. The offer still stands if I can sneak you out of here?"

Amanda nodded. She told him her first name. "Okay, Amanda. Listen. I had no fucking idea he was going to do this, but like I said, he's not going to let you go. I'm willing to take the chance on it because I'm sure this is going to go fucking belly up. I saw you on T.V. and there's no doubt in my mind your father-in-law has already made the call to get the FBI involved in this, and they play for keeps. I'll wait for a nice, safe opportunity and get you out of here. Beacon's a few miles down the road, you can easily find somewhere with a phone and call a taxi out of here."

"I've had my own brushes with the law," Amanda told him. "I'd much rather this all just blows over. I've already been in the public eye more than I've wanted to be. I'm even willing to get you some money. I can give you $50,000 in cash, and I have my own vehicle so I can leave it somewhere on the grounds for you to collect. I can tell from your reaction that you wanted no part of it. I won't lie, I'm a little pissed that you partnered up with him to blackmail me, but knowing you want me gone as soon as possible makes up for that. You have my word, if you get me out of here, I'll leave your name out of it. Kyle will give you up if he's arrested, no doubt to try and save himself, but I'll swear that you were not present during any of this. Go flush the toilet, since you said you were checking the plumbing."

Wade had forgotten he'd made the excuse, but the woman hadn't, and he admitted that she was definitely in possession of a cleverness that was well beyond Kyle's. He nodded, ducked into the bathroom and flushed the toilet so Kyle would hear the noise if he was anywhere around. He also ran a little water in the tub since he was in there. Then he went back over to her. "I don't know when I'll get a chance, but as soon as I can, I will."

Amanda said, "Are you the owner of this house?"

Wade shook his head. "I'm the caretaker of the place, basically I just pop in a few times a week and make sure there's nothing wrong. It's been bought by some developers that are planning to restore it. Used to be an old mental hospital years ago, for high-end patients."

And then she said something that surprised him. It showed that she truly did have brushes with the law, and that he could fully trust her to shield him from the cops. "So your fingerprints will be all over this place already, So if he tries to claim you were involved, you have extra cover. If the cops don't believe me and try to claim you were there because of the fingerprint evidence, you've got an alibi. Your prints are here because you're the caretaker."

Wade smiled a little. She definitely had a head on her shoulders. She smiled conspiratorially, and he let his slight smile deepen in return. Wade left the room and locked the door as Kyle was making his way from the kitchen. "Plumbing works. Listen. You got three days. If it's not done by then, we cut her loose."

Kyle just looked at him. "We'll see."

Wade was trying to inch Kyle into abandoning this plan of his, but he was not getting him to take the bait. "I'm telling you, man, the local police is not the same as the FBI. They'll have a shitload of equipment at their disposal to try and track her, and us, down. When are you making the call? You're going to have to call him, you know. When are you doing that?"

"Tomorrow," Kyle said, smiling as he stretched. "I'll let them stew for a while, and make the call when they start to get desperate."

*********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

He wouldn't have needed to wait. Jake was already in desperation mode from the minute he knew she was gone.

Jake answered the knock at the door and opened it to reveal a well-dressed older man with gray hair and a moustache. "Jake Park?"

He nodded. The man stuck out his hand. "I'm Detective Fontana, 19th Precinct. I'm going to be the NYPD liaison with the FBI. I understand they're already on their way?"

"Yes," Jake said, shaking Fontana's outstretched hand. "Amanda has an acquaintance with someone in the FBI, and she's always spoken highly of him. I mean no offense to the NYPD, I just...When I knew she was gone, he was the first person I thought of to call."

Fontana smiled. "None taken. Based on the family name, my Captain isn't upset to let the FBI take the lead on this one. I'd like to ask you a few preliminary questions, and of course we're going to get some of our techs out here to let the FBI order around, in addition to the ones they'll be ordering around from the New York office."

Jake hung up Fontana's expensive overcoat in the large entryway coat closet and led him into a study that was as big as Fontana's living room and bedroom. He sat in a high-backed grandfather chair, and Fontana took the one opposite him and pulled out a battered notebook and a pen. and started taking down notes as Jake spoke, and after Jake finished, he pocketed his notebook and pen.

"We'll get her back, Mr. Park, that's a promise," Fontana said, hoping he sounded sure. At the moment, he was 80/20 on getting Amanda back unharmed, but viewed the odds as favorable to her. He continued, "Especially since it seems like the guy that took her wasn't very bright."

The doorbell rang and Jake sprang to his feet and hurried to answer it. Standing outside was Peter Strahm, now a supervisory special agent, a man who he only knew peripherally, and a woman who he was unfamiliar with. She had long, curly, black hair in a ponytail, and appeared to be a junior to Strahm by at least 10 years. Both were in black. Strahm stuck out a hand and Jake shook it, then the woman, who introduced herself as Strahm's partner, Agent Perez, shook his hand as well.

"Sorry we had to meet under these circumstances, but we're here to get your wife back safely. Has anyone made contact with you yet?" Strahm walked into the entryway and looked around. It was a fantastic place. He thought of the picture of Amanda's former residence that was in her old case file and knowing what he knew of her, felt that every time Amanda walked in here, she was probably overwhelmed and viewed the place as some sort of a palace."

Jake shook his head. "No calls, nothing. We haven't had anything happen since she initially disappeared. I've been waiting and waiting and I don't understand why no one has called wanting something from us."

Strahm saw Jake's panic and sympathized. The cruise they'd taken was likely his idea, and had almost ended in tragedy, and now Jake had to feel like this was a double gut-punch, Amanda snatched from under his nose, and him not being there to protect her. "And NYPD is here I assume? Who's coordinating from their end?"

Jake's mind was all over the place as he tried to remember the name of the grey-haired guy in a flashy suit. A voice from behind him answered the question for him. "Fontana. Detective Fontana."

Fontana walked into the entryway with a warm smile. "I'm guessing you're the feds?" When Strahm and Perez nodded, he stuck out a hand. Strahm and Perez shook it. "NYPD will give you anything you need, naturally, and don't worry, we ain't gonna get territorial. We don't know whether or not the victim has been transported across state lines, but based on who the victim is, we'd much rather let you take the lead. This is your ball game, we'll support every step of the way. I'm the only official detective being dispatched to the actual house, I'm assuming as a way to keep the press from exploding the situation?"

Strahm nodded. "We're the only two officially being dispatched from the FBI, though we can call in more agents from the New York office if needed. And...We may be leading, but this is a team effort, we want everyone to be comfortable with sharing ideas. There's not one pilot, there are many. We aren't egotistical, and we're not here to give orders and step on toes."

Fontana smiled and nodded. Already he liked this guy. He'd been in a few kidnapping cases where he and the other assisting NYPD had been looked down on by the FBI agents-in-charge. Strahm meant what he said, and Fontana could tell that he was considered just as important as Strahm's partner was. With that out of the way, Strahm turned to Amanda's husband and asked, "Where was Amanda taken?"

Jake said, "We were going to the Museum of Modern Art. We were at the parking garage at 141 West 54th Street."

Strahm looked at Fontana. "CCTV footage?"

Fontana sighed. "Only at the entrance and exits. We're waiting on a copy of it now. For 21 bucks to park a car, you'd think they'd have cameras in the interior of the garage as well, but they don't. But it might allow us to get a glimpse of the car the perp was driving. We've got few details on it, but enough that we might be able to spot it."

Perez chimed in. "Where's your main internet hub? We filled a laundry list of items from our New York branch before we came out here. We've got phone tracing equipment, laptops, et cetera, and we certainly don't want any drop offs."

"It's actually in the study, right through there," Jake told her. Perez shifted the equipment in her hand and Jake thoughtfully took some of the heavier-looking bags before leading her into the study. Perez smiled gratefully and started unpacking the bags to set it up as he returned to the entryway.

Strahm resumed his questioning as Jake returned. "Fontana said there's a lead on the car. Did you see it? Did anyone else but you witness the kidnapping? Was anyone else in the parking garage at the time?"

"Actually, I didn't witness it at all," Jake told him. "My driver saw something but she was gone before I noticed anything. His name is Roger. He's in the living room. Amanda...She likes being barefoot pretty much all the time so she'd taken of her boots and socks. Also, she'd just gotten a facial and wanted to put on a little make-up before we went to the museum, and since it's a pay to park garage, I told her I'd go pay for the sticker so she had a few minutes to put on some make up and put her boots and socks back on. I was gone...Shit...Not even five minutes, maybe not even three minutes...But even in that little amount of time...She was just...Gone."

Strahm nodded and when Perez returned from the study he told her, "Driver saw something. If you want to interview him I'll talk to Jake and see what we can determine from there."

Perez nodded and after Jake prompted her, she handed him her coat and followed Jake's finger to the living room. Jake also collected Strahm's overcoat and hung them both next to Fontana's before he led him into the downstairs study. Fontana remained in the entryway, making a cell phone call. Jake went ahead and shut the door.

Strahm probed. "Now, you may not think you saw anything but there may be something you noticed in that moment that you didn't realize. First thing's first. Any enemies of the family? Not just enemies of Amanda, but of anyone? Is anyone pissed off enough that they'd use her for some sort of a wedge?"

Jake shook his head. "Not that I know of. I mean dad isn't some heartless asshole that goes out of his way to ruin people or anything like that. And if they wanted revenge, I'd think they'd target me, or dad, not Amanda."

"Not necessarily," Strahm said. "She might be considered easier pickings, since she's a woman, and as your wife, she'll demand just as much of a ransom as you yourself would." Strahm started to ask him something else but Jake had an idea what he was about to tell him next would answer a lot of Strahm's questions.

Jake said, "Earlier today, before we went to the museum, Amanda told me she got approached by an ex-boyfriend. He knew about her...Shall we say humble beginnings, and I guess he thought that Amanda re-invented herself into some high-society lady and was hiding her past from me in order to get me to marry her."

Strahm's brow arched. Just as he'd theorized, it was definitely looking like Amanda's kidnapper was an ex. "How did he make contact with her?"

Jake sat down and Strahm sat across from him. He jotted a note in a notebook that he'd magically made appear, just as Fontana had been doing in his own notebook a short while ago. "It was this morning before she went to get a facial. He left a note that told her that he knew her secret and that she should meet him. Called her by the name Linda. She didn't tell me where she met him. Obviously she took the meeting because of her connection to Jigsaw, as she thought that was what it was about. How he knew her alias, she wasn't sure. She said that he wanted a million bucks or he was going to tell me about her past. And when she found out that's what it was, she laughed in his face and told him to piss off."

Strahm was writing. "And then she was taken...What, a couple hours later? Hard not to think that there's a connection there. As for the name, if he dug for information on her...Your wedding announcement is probably online. He could have searched the internet for information on her, and you, and she was still using her assumed name when you were married The wedding announcement called her Linda, I remember. It was how I was able to track her down. Anyway, Amanda probably ripped his ass when she found out what he truly wanted, and knew her Jigsaw secret was safe. His plan failed so he escalated. Probably didn't even think it through. She tell you the name of the ex?" Jake shook his head. "How about the note? Do you have it on you?"

Jake shook his head again. "I tore the limo apart, it isn't there. She either left it behind where she met him, and as I said, she didn't tell me where that was either, or she left it in her purse. The purse disappeared with her. She did tell me that she told him before she left that if he contact her again, that I'd knock his dick in the dirt. And she was right."

Strahm smiled at that. "Well, that's a bit of good news, I know that's hard to believe, but it's true. This guy clearly wants money, and so he's likely not going to hurt her and wreck his chances for a paycheck. Do me a favor. Write down the names of any ex-boyfriends she's talked about to you. I'm sure she's told you everything about herself, and she's probably named a few of the assholes she dated, right?" Jake nodded. "Good. Write down everyone you remember, and we'll start looking into them."

Jake nodded. Strahm had one more question. "Why me?" Jake looked at him. Strahm continued, "We've got a dedicated New York office full of agents just as trained and experienced as I am, yet you had your dad call me in. Why?"

Jake was silent for a moment. "Amanda has not had a great experience with the police. That Matthews guy really did a number on her. But she respects you. She likes you, and I know part of that is because of the things you did, but still, being in law enforcement and being someone who Amanda still likes in spite of it is a big deal. And personally...I know about the Gideon plant. You saved her life, and you also solved the entire Jigsaw case. I've read up about it. A lot of cops failed hard where you succeeded. You were obviously determined and showed how clever you were when it came to that case, and you have a sort of friendship with her. I knew if I was going to find her, having a friend, and having that friend be the man who cracked the Jigsaw case open, was hands-down the best possible person to have track her down."

Strahm smiled. "We'll find her Jake. If he did this on impulse, he'll have made mistakes. We'll find her." And he believed he was right, mostly. The only concern nagging at him was that if an ex took her, she could identify him. Would he wait until he was safely on his way out of the country to reveal her location, or would he decide to silence her on impulse? The guy already showed an impulsive streak, but he hoped that now he realized how deep he was, that he wouldn't be stupid enough to add murder to the already major charges he was facing.

And there was another wild card. Amanda herself. Yes, she was a Jigsaw victim. But he'd watched the tape of her at that house with the nerve gas. She'd learned from a very intelligent man how to play possum, and strike when the time was right. It wasn't a guarantee, but he imagined that what she'd learned during her time with John Kramer she might use to her advantage, and take an opportunity to escape if it seemed possible. But they couldn't rely on that. First and foremost, it was up to he, Perez, and Fontana to bring her home.

They left the library and met Fontana and Perez in the main hall. Strahm and Perez exchanged notes. Roger informed Perez that he saw little, but said the glimpse he'd seen of the car was black. Fontana let them speak, then said, "We've got a tech in the study. We have the CCTV footage."

They all clustered around it. They fast forwarded to the time of Amanda and Jake's arrival and saw the limo pull in. It was followed closely by a black car, but the windows were tinted so the driver's face couldn't be made out. "That has to be him," Strahm muttered. There was a brief glimpse of the license plate but it was dirty. It was either intentional or just lucky. In between the numbers was a symbol.

Strahm asked the NYPD tech to freeze the image. "Can we zoom in and clean that up?" The tech nodded and punched a few keys on the laptop in front of him. The image grew and became as clear as the software could make it.

"It's a sun," Perez said, squinting. "It's a sun on what looks like a horizon." She went to her own laptop and started typing.

Fontana looked at the frozen image of the car. "Man, they don't make 'em like they used to, do they?"

Strahm looked at him. Fontana said, "The Olds Cutlass. It's a little blurry, but I recognize the old shovel-nose anywhere. I think they came out in that style in '81, and they kept it up through, maybe the '85 or '86 models. I never had one, but I thought about buying one, that's for sure."

"Tennessee." Perez looked up from her laptop and turned the screen so Strahm could see. The license plate in the picture was the same design as the zoomed image from the kidnapper's car. "A rising sun, and the horizon line is an image of the state." She searched for vehicle images and confirmed Fontana was right. That particular front end design was introduced on the 1981 model of the Olds Cutlass, and discontinued after the 1986 model. He looked at Fontana with a smile. "Good eye." Fontana smiled back and winked.

Strahm started talking fast. "Alright. Perez, can you call the Tennessee DMV and have them compile a list of black 1981-1986 Olds Cutlass owners in the state of Tennessee? Jake's going to write a list of the ex boyfriends Amanda has spoken of in the past. Hopefully, we'll get lucky. If not, at least we've got a lead, and we can go down the list until we find a likely suspect. Just in case, I'll call around and have a check done for stolen vehicle reports for the last...Say...Two years, just to cross it off the list. Hopefully no one in Tennessee has reported a stolen Cutlass in those model years, or we're going to have another obstacle, because it may mean the kidnapper is using a stolen vehicle, and we won't be able to trace it to them."

He turned to Fontana. "Can you see if there's any other CCTV footage from that area that we might be able to use? Maybe he rolled a window down, or maybe we'll get some way to get a clearer look at his face." Fontana nodded and made a phone call.

Strahm loosened his tie. It was only a start, but it was a start, nonetheless. He shot Jake a look and gave him a reassuring smile.