An Anniversary to Remember
by matahari2
Summary: Just in time for the Stetsons' 15th wedding anniversary, a family member is in danger.
Timeframe: February, 2002
Disclaimer/Notes: See Chapter 1
Chapter Six – A Day in the Park
February 13, 2002
After checking in with the Agency, Lee and Amanda took Jenny's note and exited the suite. When they came out of the elevator down on the main floor, Amanda noticed a display rack filled with several stacks of tourist brochures, for attractions all over the city and surrounding areas. Those that caught her eye were for the Muny and several other attractions in Forest Park.
"Amanda, come on! What are you doing?" Lee groused, irritated that Amanda was wasting time picking up tourist brochures.
"Just picking up some brochures..." she started, pausing to shoot him a warning glance, "for places in Forest Park, Lee," she said through clenched teeth, with a slight edge to her voice, and a little too strong an emphasis on his name. Then she realized what was happening between the two of them, and tried her best to ease the tension that was building. In a much softer tone, she said, "Oh, Lee, I'm sorry...about what I said upstairs, and, just now. There was no need for me to snap at you like that. I guess being so worried about Jenny has me more upset that I try to let on."
"It's all right...I understand," Lee said in a quiet voice. "I feel the same way, believe me. And I know I do tend to rush into action, trying to find the answer to a problem, shutting off my personal side. I guess it's a 'control' thing, you know?"
Lee held out his hand to Amanda, and they walked on out to their rental car. After they turned onto highway 40, Lee brought up the subject of the brochures again. "Anyway, why those particular brochures?" he asked.
"Well, I thought maybe they'd have either whole maps of the park in them, or at least the parts of the park where each place is," Amanda tried to explain. "The one for the Muny has a kind of diagram of how to get there, to their upper and lower parking lots, and directions to the Art Museum and the Zoo from there."
"Okay then," Lee said. "Maybe they can help us at that. All right, Amanda, you just tell me where to turn."
The brochure's diagram had been fairly accurate, and Lee followed the large, carved wood signs that marked their way once they entered the park. Lee pulled into the Muny's upper parking lot, close to a thick stand of trees. The two of them walked down the hill slowly and stealthily past the tree-lined colonnades that flanked the large outdoor theater, until they decided on a hiding place that would allow them to see the front entrance of the Muny and still not be observed.
********
Jenny watched carefully as her captor drove the rental car and followed the wooden signs through the park. She saw an arrow pointing left to the Zoo, another pointing right to the Jewel Box and the Muny. After they'd driven down a steep hill, Jenny noticed a pond with a large gazebo in the middle. The car she was riding in circled the pond, and came to a stop just around the corner from what looked like the box office for a theater, flanked on either side by colonnades. 'Uh-oh,' she thought. 'This must be the place.'
After Rita slammed the gearshift into 'Park', Jenny shuddered as she saw the woman open her bag and pull out another two lengths of rope, along with a roll of silver duct tape. She winced in pain as the rope cut into her wrist when Rita pulled it tight. 'Okay, this is really gettin' scary now,' Jenny thought, as the woman covered her mouth with a piece of duct tape and dragged her across the front seat, pulling her out on the driver's side of the car. As she scanned as much of the park as she could see without drawing too much attention to herself, Jenny wondered, 'Mom! Dad! Where are you? I need you, now!', She still hadn't seen them when she felt the woman shoving her into the back seat of the car.
"Ow!" Jenny tried to shout through the tape.
"Quiet!" Rita growled, as she tied the second piece of rope around Jenny's feet.
'Why did she have to cover me up with a blanket?' Jenny thought, as she felt the car dip slightly, from the front, she was pretty sure, as the woman leaned up against it. When Jenny heard the woman talking to someone, 'Charlie Logan?', she heard her say the man's name. 'All right,' she lectured herself mentally, ' time to get to work. It sure is a good thing I pointed my toes in when she tied my feet...they're not tied near as tightly as my hands.' Jenny shook off the blanket and pulled her knees up so she could dig her heels in and push herself into a sitting position against the corner of the back seat. She could see the man and woman were still talking. Then she went to work on the knot.
********
Ten minutes after they had seen a car circle the pond and turn right at the corner just past the Muny entrance, Lee noticed a man emerging from the bushes beside one of the parking lots across the street from the theater entrance, carrying what looked like a brown paper grocery bag. The man looked at least twice in every direction before crossing the street to meet a woman at the corner. 'Rita Holden,' Lee realized.
Lee and Amanda watched the brief verbal exchange between the woman and her contact, and observed Rita looking into the brown bag, and nodding to her counterpart, as if acknowledging that the 'product', whatever it was, was acceptable. She handed the man a thick, letter-sized envelope, which Lee assumed was cash, and received the brown bag in exchange. When Rita turned to go back to the car, Amanda almost shouted, "Lee! What if that's a gun? She's got our Jenny! We've got to get over there!"
"I know, Amanda," he said quietly, taking her hand in his. He could tell she was frightened...that hollow look in her eyes told him clearly enough. "Let's just wait another second, until she rounds the corner, then let's run for it...okay, let's go!"
They took off running across the entire width of the large outdoor theater's front gates. Lee hoped they'd get to Jenny before any harm would come to her.
Jenny had just worked the knot loose when she glanced up and saw the man turning to leave.'Uh-oh!' she thought, quickly grabbing at the blanket on the floor and kicking it back into place with her feet. She heard the car door open and something that sounded like a paper bag being opened. Then she heard several soft clicks and one louder one, before she heard the door slam shut. She could barely hear footsteps, but they were getting louder. Now they sounded hard, like people running on concrete. 'Mom and Dad?' she hoped. At the same time, she wished she could warn them. What if those sounds she'd heard before were the sounds of a gun being loaded? Before she had time to act on that thought, Jenny felt herself being dragged out of the back seat to a standing position outside the car. Rita had just wrapped her left arm around Jenny's neck and pointed the revolver at her head, when Lee and Amanda rounded the corner.
"NO!!!" Amanda screamed.
"Rita! You can't do this!" Lee shouted. "Why?" he asked, in agony over their daughter's plight.
"Oh, yes I can, Mr. ...and Mrs. ...Stetson!" Rita snarled at the pair. "You took away the last 15 years of my life. So don't tell me what I can't do!"
Rita was backing up the hill, dragging Jenny with her, when she stepped into a low spot and fell backwards, losing her grip on Jenny, and briefly losing control of the gun. Lee took the chance to draw the weapon from his ankle-holster and call out, "Run, Jenny! Get out of there!"
Jenny rolled away from the fallen woman and scurried to the far side of the car, out of the line of fire. She could hear the woman scrambling to her feet and starting to run. Jenny heard a loud 'crack!', followed by another, and harder, faster footsteps. 'Get her, Dad!' she thought. 'I know you can do it. . .just please. . .don't let her shoot you first!'
Jenny crouched on the pavement, her arms wrapped around her knees, rocking herself, keeping her eyes shut tight, as though by doing so she could make herself believe none of this was really happening. Suddenly, she felt the car give as though someone was leaning against it. She jerked her head to the left and looked up in surprise, as she saw her mother creeping toward her around the back of the car. "Mom!" she tried to shout through the tape that still covered her mouth.
"Jenny!" Amanda whispered, as she kneeled down and closed her arms around her daughter for a quick hug, before starting to untie the rope that bound her hands. She looked up into her eyes and asked, "Are you all right?"
Jenny nodded, doing her best to smile with her eyes as she watched her mother carefully removing the rope and examining her reddened wrists. "Mmm!" Jenny said, pointing up to her mouth.
"Oo. . .yes, I see," Amanda said, knitting her brows and wincing. "All right now, just hold your mouth real still and close your eyes. . .there!"
Jenny felt a quick sting as her mother ripped the tape from her face. "Mom! I'm so glad you're here!" she shouted, reaching out to embrace her.
"Me too, Sweetheart," Amanda answered, as she patted Jenny's shoulder and leaned back on her heels. As she stood, she told Jenny, "Now, keep your head down, while I try to see what's happening."
Amanda eyes widened in concern, as she watched Lee gaining ground on the running woman, who appeared to be firing aimlessly. At last, she heard the dull clicking sound that told her that Rita Holden had run out of ammunition. She had just turned back to Jenny when she heard the loud screech of tires, a motorist trying to avoid hitting an unexpected pedestrian.
"Lee!!" Amanda screamed, spinning around and looking back up the hill. She let out a sigh of relief, seeing that Lee was all right. He had been able to stop at the curb. Rita Holden hadn't been so lucky.
Amanda went back to help Jenny stand up, and the two of them walked up the long hill. She heard Lee talking to the driver of the Treetop Nursery delivery van, assuring the man that he was not responsible for the accident, and that there was no way he could have seen the woman before it was too late. Amanda did her best to shield Jenny from the scene before them, taking her hand and walking her around behind the van, toward their rental car.
Lee kneeled beside Rita's still form and checked for a pulse. He nodded to Amanda that the woman was still alive, then pulled out his cell phone and dialed 9-1-1 for emergency assistance. Next, he called Francine back at the Agency, and asked her to follow up with the Federal and local authorities.
After dealing with the local police and bidding farewell to the hapless van driver, Lee ran across the street and pulled both of his girls in for a bear hug, kissing Jenny on the cheek. "It's sure great to have you back with us, Jenny! You really had us worried."
"Glad to be back, Daddy! I love you!" Jenny said, cheerfully.
"Are you sure you're all right?" he asked, holding her at arm's length to take a better look at her.
"Yeah, Dad, I'm great," Jenny said, smiling brightly. "She didn't hurt me, y'know. I was scared, but I knew I could trust you guys to find me!"
Father and daughter shared one more hug, and Lee said, "Okay, I guess we'd better head back downtown and check out of the hotel, right?"
"Right," Amanda answered, as Lee turned the key in the ignition and pulled out of the parking lot. "And then we'd better see how soon we can get a flight out of here." She looked down at her watch and exclaimed, "Oh my gosh, Lee! Do you know what time it is?" Her jaw dropped open as she turned to him in a panic, asking, "Do you know what day it is?"
Lee's face paled as he turned toward Amanda and shouted, "Oh my God...our anniversary! Here...take my cell phone and call the airline!"
At that, Jenny was overcome by the uncontrollable urge to giggle.
"What's so funny?" Lee asked Jenny's reflection in the rearview mirror.
"Oh nothing, Dad. I'm just picturing Grandma's face when we get to the church about ten minutes before the ceremony, that's all."
"Oh boy!" Amanda said, rolling her eyes.
TO BE CONTINUED
by matahari2
Summary: Just in time for the Stetsons' 15th wedding anniversary, a family member is in danger.
Timeframe: February, 2002
Disclaimer/Notes: See Chapter 1
Chapter Six – A Day in the Park
February 13, 2002
After checking in with the Agency, Lee and Amanda took Jenny's note and exited the suite. When they came out of the elevator down on the main floor, Amanda noticed a display rack filled with several stacks of tourist brochures, for attractions all over the city and surrounding areas. Those that caught her eye were for the Muny and several other attractions in Forest Park.
"Amanda, come on! What are you doing?" Lee groused, irritated that Amanda was wasting time picking up tourist brochures.
"Just picking up some brochures..." she started, pausing to shoot him a warning glance, "for places in Forest Park, Lee," she said through clenched teeth, with a slight edge to her voice, and a little too strong an emphasis on his name. Then she realized what was happening between the two of them, and tried her best to ease the tension that was building. In a much softer tone, she said, "Oh, Lee, I'm sorry...about what I said upstairs, and, just now. There was no need for me to snap at you like that. I guess being so worried about Jenny has me more upset that I try to let on."
"It's all right...I understand," Lee said in a quiet voice. "I feel the same way, believe me. And I know I do tend to rush into action, trying to find the answer to a problem, shutting off my personal side. I guess it's a 'control' thing, you know?"
Lee held out his hand to Amanda, and they walked on out to their rental car. After they turned onto highway 40, Lee brought up the subject of the brochures again. "Anyway, why those particular brochures?" he asked.
"Well, I thought maybe they'd have either whole maps of the park in them, or at least the parts of the park where each place is," Amanda tried to explain. "The one for the Muny has a kind of diagram of how to get there, to their upper and lower parking lots, and directions to the Art Museum and the Zoo from there."
"Okay then," Lee said. "Maybe they can help us at that. All right, Amanda, you just tell me where to turn."
The brochure's diagram had been fairly accurate, and Lee followed the large, carved wood signs that marked their way once they entered the park. Lee pulled into the Muny's upper parking lot, close to a thick stand of trees. The two of them walked down the hill slowly and stealthily past the tree-lined colonnades that flanked the large outdoor theater, until they decided on a hiding place that would allow them to see the front entrance of the Muny and still not be observed.
********
Jenny watched carefully as her captor drove the rental car and followed the wooden signs through the park. She saw an arrow pointing left to the Zoo, another pointing right to the Jewel Box and the Muny. After they'd driven down a steep hill, Jenny noticed a pond with a large gazebo in the middle. The car she was riding in circled the pond, and came to a stop just around the corner from what looked like the box office for a theater, flanked on either side by colonnades. 'Uh-oh,' she thought. 'This must be the place.'
After Rita slammed the gearshift into 'Park', Jenny shuddered as she saw the woman open her bag and pull out another two lengths of rope, along with a roll of silver duct tape. She winced in pain as the rope cut into her wrist when Rita pulled it tight. 'Okay, this is really gettin' scary now,' Jenny thought, as the woman covered her mouth with a piece of duct tape and dragged her across the front seat, pulling her out on the driver's side of the car. As she scanned as much of the park as she could see without drawing too much attention to herself, Jenny wondered, 'Mom! Dad! Where are you? I need you, now!', She still hadn't seen them when she felt the woman shoving her into the back seat of the car.
"Ow!" Jenny tried to shout through the tape.
"Quiet!" Rita growled, as she tied the second piece of rope around Jenny's feet.
'Why did she have to cover me up with a blanket?' Jenny thought, as she felt the car dip slightly, from the front, she was pretty sure, as the woman leaned up against it. When Jenny heard the woman talking to someone, 'Charlie Logan?', she heard her say the man's name. 'All right,' she lectured herself mentally, ' time to get to work. It sure is a good thing I pointed my toes in when she tied my feet...they're not tied near as tightly as my hands.' Jenny shook off the blanket and pulled her knees up so she could dig her heels in and push herself into a sitting position against the corner of the back seat. She could see the man and woman were still talking. Then she went to work on the knot.
********
Ten minutes after they had seen a car circle the pond and turn right at the corner just past the Muny entrance, Lee noticed a man emerging from the bushes beside one of the parking lots across the street from the theater entrance, carrying what looked like a brown paper grocery bag. The man looked at least twice in every direction before crossing the street to meet a woman at the corner. 'Rita Holden,' Lee realized.
Lee and Amanda watched the brief verbal exchange between the woman and her contact, and observed Rita looking into the brown bag, and nodding to her counterpart, as if acknowledging that the 'product', whatever it was, was acceptable. She handed the man a thick, letter-sized envelope, which Lee assumed was cash, and received the brown bag in exchange. When Rita turned to go back to the car, Amanda almost shouted, "Lee! What if that's a gun? She's got our Jenny! We've got to get over there!"
"I know, Amanda," he said quietly, taking her hand in his. He could tell she was frightened...that hollow look in her eyes told him clearly enough. "Let's just wait another second, until she rounds the corner, then let's run for it...okay, let's go!"
They took off running across the entire width of the large outdoor theater's front gates. Lee hoped they'd get to Jenny before any harm would come to her.
Jenny had just worked the knot loose when she glanced up and saw the man turning to leave.'Uh-oh!' she thought, quickly grabbing at the blanket on the floor and kicking it back into place with her feet. She heard the car door open and something that sounded like a paper bag being opened. Then she heard several soft clicks and one louder one, before she heard the door slam shut. She could barely hear footsteps, but they were getting louder. Now they sounded hard, like people running on concrete. 'Mom and Dad?' she hoped. At the same time, she wished she could warn them. What if those sounds she'd heard before were the sounds of a gun being loaded? Before she had time to act on that thought, Jenny felt herself being dragged out of the back seat to a standing position outside the car. Rita had just wrapped her left arm around Jenny's neck and pointed the revolver at her head, when Lee and Amanda rounded the corner.
"NO!!!" Amanda screamed.
"Rita! You can't do this!" Lee shouted. "Why?" he asked, in agony over their daughter's plight.
"Oh, yes I can, Mr. ...and Mrs. ...Stetson!" Rita snarled at the pair. "You took away the last 15 years of my life. So don't tell me what I can't do!"
Rita was backing up the hill, dragging Jenny with her, when she stepped into a low spot and fell backwards, losing her grip on Jenny, and briefly losing control of the gun. Lee took the chance to draw the weapon from his ankle-holster and call out, "Run, Jenny! Get out of there!"
Jenny rolled away from the fallen woman and scurried to the far side of the car, out of the line of fire. She could hear the woman scrambling to her feet and starting to run. Jenny heard a loud 'crack!', followed by another, and harder, faster footsteps. 'Get her, Dad!' she thought. 'I know you can do it. . .just please. . .don't let her shoot you first!'
Jenny crouched on the pavement, her arms wrapped around her knees, rocking herself, keeping her eyes shut tight, as though by doing so she could make herself believe none of this was really happening. Suddenly, she felt the car give as though someone was leaning against it. She jerked her head to the left and looked up in surprise, as she saw her mother creeping toward her around the back of the car. "Mom!" she tried to shout through the tape that still covered her mouth.
"Jenny!" Amanda whispered, as she kneeled down and closed her arms around her daughter for a quick hug, before starting to untie the rope that bound her hands. She looked up into her eyes and asked, "Are you all right?"
Jenny nodded, doing her best to smile with her eyes as she watched her mother carefully removing the rope and examining her reddened wrists. "Mmm!" Jenny said, pointing up to her mouth.
"Oo. . .yes, I see," Amanda said, knitting her brows and wincing. "All right now, just hold your mouth real still and close your eyes. . .there!"
Jenny felt a quick sting as her mother ripped the tape from her face. "Mom! I'm so glad you're here!" she shouted, reaching out to embrace her.
"Me too, Sweetheart," Amanda answered, as she patted Jenny's shoulder and leaned back on her heels. As she stood, she told Jenny, "Now, keep your head down, while I try to see what's happening."
Amanda eyes widened in concern, as she watched Lee gaining ground on the running woman, who appeared to be firing aimlessly. At last, she heard the dull clicking sound that told her that Rita Holden had run out of ammunition. She had just turned back to Jenny when she heard the loud screech of tires, a motorist trying to avoid hitting an unexpected pedestrian.
"Lee!!" Amanda screamed, spinning around and looking back up the hill. She let out a sigh of relief, seeing that Lee was all right. He had been able to stop at the curb. Rita Holden hadn't been so lucky.
Amanda went back to help Jenny stand up, and the two of them walked up the long hill. She heard Lee talking to the driver of the Treetop Nursery delivery van, assuring the man that he was not responsible for the accident, and that there was no way he could have seen the woman before it was too late. Amanda did her best to shield Jenny from the scene before them, taking her hand and walking her around behind the van, toward their rental car.
Lee kneeled beside Rita's still form and checked for a pulse. He nodded to Amanda that the woman was still alive, then pulled out his cell phone and dialed 9-1-1 for emergency assistance. Next, he called Francine back at the Agency, and asked her to follow up with the Federal and local authorities.
After dealing with the local police and bidding farewell to the hapless van driver, Lee ran across the street and pulled both of his girls in for a bear hug, kissing Jenny on the cheek. "It's sure great to have you back with us, Jenny! You really had us worried."
"Glad to be back, Daddy! I love you!" Jenny said, cheerfully.
"Are you sure you're all right?" he asked, holding her at arm's length to take a better look at her.
"Yeah, Dad, I'm great," Jenny said, smiling brightly. "She didn't hurt me, y'know. I was scared, but I knew I could trust you guys to find me!"
Father and daughter shared one more hug, and Lee said, "Okay, I guess we'd better head back downtown and check out of the hotel, right?"
"Right," Amanda answered, as Lee turned the key in the ignition and pulled out of the parking lot. "And then we'd better see how soon we can get a flight out of here." She looked down at her watch and exclaimed, "Oh my gosh, Lee! Do you know what time it is?" Her jaw dropped open as she turned to him in a panic, asking, "Do you know what day it is?"
Lee's face paled as he turned toward Amanda and shouted, "Oh my God...our anniversary! Here...take my cell phone and call the airline!"
At that, Jenny was overcome by the uncontrollable urge to giggle.
"What's so funny?" Lee asked Jenny's reflection in the rearview mirror.
"Oh nothing, Dad. I'm just picturing Grandma's face when we get to the church about ten minutes before the ceremony, that's all."
"Oh boy!" Amanda said, rolling her eyes.
TO BE CONTINUED