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Author's Note: Thank you for the incredible amount of reviews I have received. :) Here's the next chapter which I hope you enjoy.
"Mr. Fairchild," Detective Kimball asked, "do you believe that the attempted kidnapping at the mall is connected to this kidnapping?"
Andrew S. Fairchild nodded, attempting to be patient. "Yes, obviously they are."
"Are there any relatives that might kidnap your daughter?"
"No, Elayne and I are the only living members of the Fairchild family." Mr. Fairchild answered smoothly.
"Is there any possible person that might try to kidnap your daughter, maybe for revenge or to get back at you? Maybe an angry distant relative?"
"I. . . don't think so," Fairchild said carefully. There was somebody he had forgotten. Maybe it was because he didn't want to remember him. He absolutely had to be dead by now. The last he had heard there had been a plane accident, or at least the rumor of one. . ."
"I see. Have you received any threatening notes or received a ransom demand?" Kimball inquired.
Fairchild shook his head. "I have not."
"What about your daughters bodyguards? The Hardy brothers and Miss Drew? Would they know anything? Did they see anything?"
"They decided to leave and go elsewhere after the events of today. They can tell you nothing of any importance and would be of no useful help to you." Mr. Fairchild said.
The police detective nodded, thinking he understood. "We've already gotten a description from your housekeeper and her niece of what your daughter was wearing, is there anything you would wish to add to their description?"
Fairchild paused and thought for a moment. "No."
"Well, that wraps things up for now. Undoubtably the FBI will wish to speak with you as soon as they arrive. Just tell them the same things you told us, don't hold back. We are working together." Kimball explained.
"Very good." Mr. Fairchild replied as he stood up to shake Kimball's hand.
"Just one more thing." Kimball continued, "You're aware of the fact that you're a prominent and rich businessman in town so your daughter's kidnapping has of course sparked the public interest. Is it okay that the media is on your property?"
"So long as they keep their hands to themselves I have no problem with that. Miss Amanda Johnson will be handling my public relations so take any of her requests as if they come from me." Fairchild instructed.
"Thank you," Kimball said leaving the private sitting room, "I'll see to it that everything is kept down to a dull roar."
********
"Where do we put our ID's?" Joe asked Frank and they were packing. "I think that airport security might suspicious if they open up our wallet and see a whole bunch of ID's that are probably forgeries. Even though they aren't. It would be hard to convince them of that fact though."
"Do what I did," Frank replied, "stick all but one of them in your suitcase somewhere where no one will see it, regardless of whether our bags are searched, x-rayed, or someone tosses our hotel room."
"Good point," Joe commented. "Which ID did you choose?"
"State Department," Frank answered and he zipped his suitcase shut.
Joe nodded as he slipped his CIA, FBI, and Network identification's into a built-in secret compartment within his suitcase. He and Frank and found such a compartment useful several times in the past. He then put his State Department card and expense credit cards into his wallet. "I think that's it." Joe began to close his suitcase.
Frank nodded as he sat on the bed. "What worries me is that maybe someone will notice those guns we packed."
"Oh relax," Joe scoffed, "Fairchild said that as long as they were in those packets nothing would be able to detect them. Besides, it's not like they search baggage."
"Famous last words," Frank muttered as someone knocked on their door. "Come in!" he called.
Nancy walked in the room. "I'm all packed, how about you guys?"
"We're ready too," Joe said motioning to their suitcases.
"I wonder who we'll be up against?" Nancy mused as she sat down on Frank's bed. "Didn't Fairchild give us a few hints?"
"I got the impression that the whole kidnapping thing is to distract him from something else." Frank put in.
"What would someone try to distract Fairchild from?" Joe thought aloud.
"I get the impression that the Network deals primarily with terrorism and possible threats of terrorism." Nancy said. "So, it's probably an impending terrorist attack, therefore, it's more than possible that it's the Assassins or maybe an arms-dealer."
Frank nodded. "Good point, yet Fairchild called their potential success 'checkmate.' Blowing up some building is more like taking away somebody's pawn than anything else."
"Well they want success don't they?" Joe added as he looked through the newspaper for the sports section. "Distracting the watchdog is the key to success."
"Yes," Nancy agreed, "but, is Fairchild the standard watchdog? Whether or not he's distracted the systems and agents he has in place will notice something and then alert the high-command or whatever of the Network calls it."
Frank's eyes brightened as he thought over Nancy's statement. "They're not trying to distract the Network, they want to distract Fairchild personally. The Network can spot standard terrorism easily but what if it's non-standard terrorism? What if what these people are up to something that only Andrew S. Fairchild, his personal self could spot, or connect with anything else?"
Joe rolled his eyes. "You're going out on a tangent Frank."
Nancy had caught on to Frank's idea though. "I get it, what if it's some doomsday plan or something that Fairchild saw or knew about while he was in the CIA? Or maybe he knew some agent or another person planning or capable of planning such a thing?"
"Exactly," Frank acknowledged, "someone or something is coming back from Fairchild's past to haunt him and they don't want him to spot them too early."
"Maybe we ought to go talk to Fairchild about your bright ideas," Joe said over the paper, "he'd put them down in a flash."
Frank and Nancy sighed. "Yeah, you're right Joe," Frank admitted.
"Fairchild either already knows what's up or he would've figured this out before us." Nancy finished.
*********
"Has there been a ransom note yet?" a stocky reporter inquired.
"No," Amanda replied calmly, "no one has contacted us."
"Has Mr. Fairchild offered a reward for the return of his daughter?" a tall and thin female reporter asked shoving her microphone closer to the podium.
"Not as of now, "Amanda replied, "he has not had enough time to get around to that."
"What kind of father wouldn't drop everything and offer a reward if it had the chance of getting his daughter back?" a local talk show host called.
Amanda clenched her teeth. She hated that woman's talk show and she would not give her material for it. "Would you rather Mr. Fairchild offer a reward and then neglect to call the police and help by giving the law every possible lead they could follow?"
The talk show host stepped back abashed and another younger reporter squeezed into her place. "You mentioned a Nancy Drew in connection with this, how is she connected and why?"
"May I ask you name?" Amanda said.
"Brenda Carlton, River Heights Chronicle," the reporter replied.
Great, Amanda thought, a reporter from some dumb paper out for the Pulitzer or something. Wait, Andrew wanted the bodyguards kept out of this, why was this person asking about one of them specifically? "Miss Fairchild's bodyguards were severely wounded due to an incident that occurred earlier today. They have departed and are in no way connected to this affair."
Just then Mr. Fairchild and the man commonly referred to as Mr. Gray entered the room and stepped up to Amanda. Reporters began to take numerous pictures. "Anything interesting?" Mr. Fairchild whispered to Amanda.
Amanda nodded. "See that one young reporter nearly on the front row? Kind of dressed up like a wannabe reporter?"
Fairchild nodded and smiled. "She looks hilarious."
"Well she asked about Miss Drew specifically and about her involvement."
Mr. Fairchild suddenly frowned and leaned towards the Gray Man. "She may or may not be a real reporter, detain her and see what you can find out."
The Gray Man nodded and signaled to a couple of Network agents that had arrived shortly after the kidnapping had been discovered. He stepped away from the podium and two toughs 'politely' escorted Miss Carlton from the room.
Mr. Fairchild stepped up to the podium amid many camera flashes.
"Mr. Fairchild," began a young man politely, he had seen what happened to that other idiot, "did your daughter have bodyguards and how were they involved with this?"
"Elayne had three temporary bodyguards. They had an accident downtown today and have gone home to recuperate from severe injuries that will likely take some time to heal." Mr. Fairchild answered smoothly.
*******
Frank, Nancy and Joe sighed and looked at their watches the fifth time within the past twenty minutes. When was Mr. Fairchild going to get some word of where Elayne was?
Frank sighed. "Maybe they killed her and buried her and they won't ever find a trace."
"Oh cheer up Frank," Nancy replied, "no one would go to so much trouble to abduct a girl and then kill her five minutes later."
"Yeah Frank, cheer up!" Joe encouraged.
The door suddenly opened and Fairchild burst in. "Colombia." he said "She's either in Colombia now or will be soon. The police also found a small trace in the road." he held up a earring and Nancy took it and examined it.
"There's blood on it!"
Fairchild nodded. "They think she ripped it off or just had a hard time getting it off. She was trying to leave a clue. It's too bad her kidnappers were so fast."
Nancy shuddered and handed the earring to Frank who in turn passed it to Joe who gave it back to Mr. Fairchild. "At least we know what to look for to see if she left another sign," Joe concluded.
"Where to in Colombia?" Frank asked.
"The capital," Fairchild answered, "Bogota."
"Home of drug lords galore." Nancy mused thoughtfully.
"Indeed," Fairchild replied, "I have every confidence that you'll be able to handle yourselves there. I have already made reservations and you'll be able to pick up your tickets at the airport. Simply look under your name Frank. If you need help, your driver will be able to direct you to the appropriate counter."
"That sounds like everything is in order," Frank said. "How do we get out without anyone noticing us?"
"Your driver who is waiting outside the door will show you through the back."
"We'll bring back your daughter sir," Nancy promised.
"Don't make promises unless you absolutely know you can fulfill them," Fairchild replied smiling. "I have every faith and wish you luck."
"We'll do our best," Joe said.
"Oh, and one last thing," Fairchild added. "There's this young reporter from some River Chronicler or something like that who was inquiring directly about you Nancy. Do you know who she might be?"
Nancy frowned. "Brenda. She's a reporter from the local newspaper in my town. She always tries to get in on my cases and in the end blackmails us and threatens the investigation unless we give her some glory so she can write a Pulitzer-winning article."
Fairchild smiled mischievously. "Well, blackmail is illegal, and so is threatening a official investigation. If she ever does that again a gag order is the least you can do. I shall see to it that she is kept in the dark, and perhaps humbled a little." Fairchild laughed and showed them out the door to the Network driver who lead them down a back stairway.
As soon as they passed the kitchen they heard a familiar voice. "You have no right to detain me! I'm a star reporter from the River Heights Chronicle!"
"The River what? Sounds like some cheap magazine to me."
"It's a newspaper my father owns!"
"Then why can't you seem to contact your father, the famous paper owner?"
"I told you! He's on vacation, I can call him at his hotel right now if you'd let me." came Brenda's indignant voice.
"Any idiot could call a hotel and get someone to say they were something or another. What was it again? The writer to some cheap tabloid or something?"
The voices faded away as Frank, Nancy and Joe exited the Fairchild mansion. All three of them were stifling laughter.
*******
Frank woke up and yawned as the plane touched down in Bogota. Nancy and Joe were already up. "So, what's our first order of business?"
"If they've taken her all the way to Colombia its not just some petty criminal. I'd say whoever has her is involved in the local economy. Drugs." Nancy replied as she checked her purse and other belonging to make sure she didn't leave anything behind.
"Right," Frank replied, "that means that we need to get in on the local crime scene. Find out who's who and find out where they hang out. Maybe the local CIA spooks can help us in that department."
"Sounds good to me," Joe said putting down his Sports Illustrated.
"Great," Nancy said, "let's go and check into a hotel, freshen up and pay a visit to the local U.S. embassy. We'll flash around our CIA ID's and they'll cooperate."
"Hopefully," Frank said. "We need to act professional. Don't talk a lot, don't say why we need the info or anything."
They stood up and began to disembark. "Let's just hope we can find Elayne before anything too horrible happens to her." Nancy said grimly.
*******
The man known as Raven stood and looked out the large window that overlooked the city. Had his men really been that successful in Denver? All three bodyguards wounded or hurt, or were they?
He doubted that they were that successful. What he really wanted to know was why there had been bodyguards. Did Andrew know? Or did he merely suspect or worry?
Andrew had always been lucky. Just so long as he didn't remember. Everything depended on that. Whether or not Andrew remembered.
A/N: There it is, please review. It's appreciated.
SURVEY!!!
I've decided to do a question for each chapter I write. Your responses to this survey may affect the outcome of future chapters and stories to come- So either put your answer to this chapter's survey question in your review or email it to me at dreadnault@netscape.net
Question- What type of romance would you prefer to see in coming chapters and stories? Any romance would be mostly on the side-
Take into account-
Frank and Nancy
Frank and Callie
Nancy and Frank
Nancy and Ned
Joe and Vanessa
Joe and Elayne
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