Chapter ten

Chapter ten

San Francisco a few days ago

"How is he?" asked Derek as soon as Rachel stepped out of the room.

"He has a bad cold and a bad hangover as well. He'll get over the cold, it's the drinking that concerns me," said Rachel.

"How is he?" asked Alex who was coming up the stairs carrying a tray with a pot of tea.

"Not good, Alex. Not good at all," said Derek. "Abi tried to worn me about it. She told me to keep an eye on him. He hasn't acted like this since…"

"Since Julia's death," continued Alex.

"Yes," was all Derek managed to say.

"Let's get him back on his feet from this cold and then we will take care of the drinking," said Rachel.

"He has been drinking heavy since we came back from Jerusalem," said Alex. "I guess seeing Julia, and probably Jimmy as well really got to him."

"Yes I suppose so," said Derek. "Seeing her raised some old feeling I had gone through myself. I miss her too. We all do."

"Are you gonna talk to Abi about this?" asked Alex.

"No, she has enough to deal with right now, with Sloan and Kristin being there. And she is a newly wed, she doesn't need this too."

Alex stepped into Nick's room. He was lying in bed coughing and sneezing, and every one of those caused his had to pound from the hangover. Alex turned on the light on the nightstand, which made him moan in pain and frustration.

"Alex, turn the damn thing off," he asked.

"I brought you some tea and some orange juice. Get up and drink. Then you can go back to sleep," she said sitting on the edge of the bed. She purred him some tea and handed him the mug.

Nick raised the mug to his mouth and took a sip. "This is good," he said leaning back on his pillows.

"Go on," said Alex. "I'm not leaving you until you finish drinking both the tea and the juice. He took the glass of juice from her and drank it in one sip, then continued drinking the tea. When he was done, she picked up the glasses turned of the light and left him to sleep.

Nick closed his eyes trying to sleep, but the image of Julia didn't leave him alone. Every time he closed his eyes she was there. He wanted to sleep but was also afraid. He has been having nightmares since they came back from Israel. Rerunning the events of that awful day. He thought drinking would help him forget, but so far it did not. And the alcohol only made his dreams even worse then before, right after the time she died. He didn't know how much longer he could go through it and keep his sanity.

After about an hour of struggling he finally fell asleep.

Next morning

Alex came up to Nick's room and knocked on the door. "Come in," she heard him say.

"Good morning Nick, wow, you look so much better the yesterday," she said.

"How long have I been asleep?" he asked.

"Nearly 24 hours," was Alex's reply. "Did you sleep well?" she asked.

"Yes, I think it's the first time in a week I haven't had a nightmare."

"That's wonderful news Nick. You had us very worried the last few days."

"I'm sorry, seeing Julia, I got a little crazy. I miss her so bad," he said his voice low almost whispering.

Alex raised her hands to him in a silent invitation, and he raised himself from the pillows into her embrace hugging her back tightly. "Thank you Alex," he said. "Thank you for being my friend."

"Always," she said whispering in his ear, running her fingers through his hair and kissing the top of his head. "Are you up to getting down for a while?" she asked.

"Sure. Just give me a few to shower and change."

"Ok. I'll see you downstairs.

Later that night

It was about 1am when a vision awoke Derek in horror. "God no," he said. He got out of bed and called his daughter.

Jerusalem

Ben and Abi rushed into his car wanting to get home as soon as possible. Ben turned on the siren he attached to the roof of his car driving as fast as he can and run every red light and every stop sign.

He was looking at Abi who was sitting next to him, her head against the window staring outside, not really seeing anything. She was feeling numb and the two times Ben reached his hand to touch hers she withdrew from him as if unable to stand his touch. She didn't even realize they had reached the house until Ben appeared on her side and opened the door for her. He wanted to hold her close and tell her everything will be ok, but he was afraid she'd reject him again. Abi followed him inside the house her motions automatic, mechanic.

"Ben," said Jacob who was standing next to Joseph talking to him.

"Hey partner," answered Ben. "I take it you are assigned to this case?"

"I kind of assigned my self. As soon as we got the call and I realized it's yours and Abi's kids, I came right here." He looked at Abi and said "I'm sorry Abi, we will do all we can to get your children back safe."

"All you can is not good enough," said Abi looking at her grandfather.

"Mr. Vapner, is there anything else you can tell me?"

"No," said Joseph. "I told you everything I could."

Abi moved over to her grandfather kneeling next to him. "Grandpa, are you ok? Did they hurt you?" she asked worried.

"I'm ok dear. I'll be a little black and blue for a few days, but other then that I'm fine." He paused for a minute his eyed filling with tears; "I'm sorry Abi. They took us by surprise. There was nothing I could do."

"God, grandpa, its not your fault. Not your fault at all. I should have seen it coming. They are my children, how could I have not known this might happen? I should have never let you go out alone."

"Jacob, are you done with him?" she asked her husband's partner.

"Yes, I guess so. He gave us all the information he had."

Abi got up, took her grandfather's arm and signed him to follow her into her office.

"Ok grandpa, you wanna tell me what it is you didn't tell Jacob?"

He wasn't surprised. Joseph knew his granddaughter's abilities and figured she'd see right through him. He was an old army man, and a retired police officer, so he knew that what Abi had to face, the police won't be able to handle. If anything they will only jeopardize the whole thing. He also knew that between Abi, Ben and the others the search would be more successful.

"Yes. I got the license plate number," he said.

He saw a little light of hope enter her eyes, and handed her the piece of paper he wrote the number on.

Abi entered the police codes she was granted and soon was inside the police's system. She typed in the car's license and waited. The system took a few minutes but finally it raised the owner's name on. Abi looked at the screen in disbelief. This can't be. The car was registered to Hirsh industries. Her own company.

The phone ring startled her. She knew who was on the phone. "Dad," she said as she answered.

Derek heard her broken voice and could feel the tears that she kept from falling. "GOD," he said, "I'm too late, they were already taken, weren't they?"

"Yes dad. Grandma and the children are, they were kidnapped."

She saw Joseph open the office door and signing someone to come over. Ben entered the room, and saw Abi on the phone.

"Dad, I have to get started on some stuff, I'll call you when we know something," she said and hung up.

"Abi, what is it? Joseph said you have something to tell me."

"Ben, the transmitters we found, what did you find about them. Who is the manufacturer?" She already knew the answer but was looking to him for confirmation.

"Hirsh Industries," he said.

Abi picked up the phone and dialed waiting to be answered.

"Hirsh, sorry, Rayne Adler industries, how may I help you?" said a woman's voice on the other side of the line.

"Morning Daniella. Abigail Adler here. I need to talk to Leo right away."

"I'm sorry Mrs. Adler, but Mr. Blum is in a meeting right now and can not be disturbed."

"I don't care if he is in a meeting with god, I need to speak to him, Now," said Abi her voice harsh and cold.

"Yes Mrs. Adler," said the young secretary. She knew Abi and the woman was usually nice and kind, for her to use this tone something must be very wrong.

"Morning Abigail. What can I do for you?" asked Leo Blum. He was her step fathers confidant. And after her father died, she assigned him to be the manager of the company. So far he has never fher.

"First thing is to get rid of the people in your office," she said.

Leo asked the people present to leave the room for a while. "Ok, I'm alone. What is it?"

"I need you, and Leo this must be done by you and you alone. You are the only person I can trust."

"What is it Abi? You are scaring me," he said

"It's a long story, but the bottom line is my children and grandmother have been kidnapped, and I think someone in the electronic division is involved. I need you to pull up the list of names of all the people employed in this division and send it to me right away. No one but you must do this or know about this."

"Ok, I'll get right on it and email it to you in a few minutes." He paused for a minute, "Abi, I'm sorry about your children. Please, if there is anything I can do…"

"Thank you Leo. I just need this list, urgently."

"Ok."

She hung up and waited for the email to arrive. She raised her had from the screen and looked at Ben. He was looking devastated, looking at her unable to say a thing. She closed her eyes and images filled her mind. She suddenly remembered the way she treated him earlier, cutting him off as she did in the car. Ignoring him and his pain. She felt ashamed and moaned deeply.

"Abi, what is it?" he asked but did not move towards her afraid she'd reject him again.

Abi got off of her chair and moved across the room to stand in front of him. Tears filled her eyes and she fell into his arms. "I'm sorry," she said. "Oh god, I am so sorry Ben."

Ben held on to her tightly. "What are you sorry about baby?" he asked.

"For treating you the way I did. I did not mean to push you away from me. I did not mean to hurt you."

"It's ok love. I understand."

"No," she said looking into his eyes. "I shouldn't have done that. I will never do it again. I promise. I will never ever push you from me again. I really do promise. They are yours too." She held on to him tight until the computer made the familiar sound of an email coming through.

"The car that grabbed them was also registered to Hirsh industries," she told Ben. "You will not share this information with Jacob, Ok?"

"No dear. There is nothing he can do. We will handle it ourselves."

Abi and Ben went over back behind the table. Abi got the email on screen then printed it out, giving Ben half of the list to go over, see if any name rings a bell. She looked at her list then suddenly her face frowned. "Damn," she said.

"Abi, you found something?"

"Yes," she said, remembering the old couple that was at her office a few days ago. "Mr. and Mrs. Levin. I had a couple named Levin in here a few days ago. I can't believe they fooled me like that. Fooled me into getting the wrong images from them. She picked up the phone and called the old witch Nadia. "Hey Nadia, can you tell me if the couple I sent over to you a few days ago ever arrived? Were you able to help them?

"I'm sorry Abi. No, now that I think about it, they never arrived. I was gonna call and tell you but I was too busy, then I simply forgot," said the old witch.

Abi sat down at her chair shocked. She couldn't believe she was so fooled. How did they manage to pull this off was beyond her. She read from them what they wanted her to see. She checked to see if the list had an address on that couple but it didn't state one.

She stepped out of the office calling Ethaniel to come in. "Ethaniel, I need you to check if you can find an address on this couple," she said.

He nodded and got to work on it in the control room.

Abi and Ben just sat there unable to say a word. She rose from her chair and moved over to her husband. She reached her hands to him and he pulled her down towards him so she sat in his lap.

"I'm scared Ben," she said. "I have never been so scared in my life." Her voice broke and she started whipping quietly in his arms.

"I'm afraid too. I want them back just as much," he said covering her head in light kisses.

Meanwhile in San Francisco.

Derek got out of his room and rushed over to Nick's, knocking on his door heavily.

Nick was up in a second and opened the door. "Derek, what is wrong?" he asked quickly, knowing his precept wouldn't wake him in this ungodly hour for no reason.

"My grandchildren, Abi's kids have been kidnapped. Are you up to a little field work?"

"Yes, of course. I can be ready in a few minutes."

"Good," said Derek. "Get ready."

He headed over to Alex's room waking her up as well telling her what he told Nick.

"Damn," said Alex. "I'll call the pilot and ask him how soon he can have the Jet ready. You and Nick get organized."

"Thanks Alex," said Derek.

Alex called the pilot of the Luna foundations Jet, and he informed her he could be ready for flight in about two hours. She went to Derek's room and informed him on the news. "Would you like me to come with you?" she asked.

"No Alex, we need you here. Tell Rachel when she gets here in the morning what has happened and we will keep you two informed."

He was ready and headed downstairs meeting Nick on the way. They got outside and into the chopper, heading off to the airport.