"Where is he?" Tessa groaned as she paced across the kitchen floor. "He said he'd be home by now."

"He'll be here when he gets here," Duncan said as he tied his tie. "He's out with his friends in the park; its already dark out, he shouldn't be too long. Why are you so worried anyway? He's not coming with us."

"But his dinner is in the oven and I don't want to leave it on if no one is home."

Duncan couldn't help but smile. In the short time Richie had lived with them, Tessa had taken the boy under her wing and let her maternal instincts take over. "You made him dinner? I was just going to give him money to order a pizza."

"This will be much healthier for him," Tessa said as she got out a plate and silverware. "You can't let him ruin his health by letting him eat junk food all the time."

"I think Richie eats plenty healthy. He eats his vegetables and loves most fruit. We can let him have junk every now and then."

"Well, he's been playing hard all day. He needs some nutrition."

"Why don't you go finish getting ready," Duncan suggested. "And I'll make sure he gets his balanced meal."

Richie came in a few minutes later smeared with mud and sweat. Duncan looked up from the salad he was tearing.

"How did the game go?"

Richie smiled widely. "We kicked their butts! 18 to 6."

"Then I'd hate to see the kids on the other team."

Richie looked at his clothes. "I guess I am a little dirty."

"A little? You're filthy. When you left, you had blonde hair." Duncan told him, swatting his brown hand away from the carrots. "Go take a quick shower and your dinner will be waiting for you."

"What is it?"

"Mexican casserole."

Richie wrinkled his nose. "Okay..."

Duncan looked down the hall and made sure Tessa was still getting ready. He leaned into Richie and whispered: "Just pretend to eat it. I'll put some money on your dresser for pizza."

Richie grinned. "Yeah?"

"Just make sure you make it look like you ate what Tessa made for you. And destroy the evidence."

Richie grinned at him. "I will."

"Good. Now go get cleaned up." Duncan playfully swatted at Richie's bottom as the teen went to take a shower.

Duncan put together a plate of casserole and a bowl of salad and put it on the table with a tall glass of water.

"Is Richie back?" Tessa asked fastening an earring as she entered the kitchen.

"Look at you..." Duncan smiled looking her up and down. "You look wonderful."

"Thank you. You look very nice yourself." She kissed him on the cheek. "We will be the envy of everyone there."

Richie trotted down the hall damp, but clean just in time to say good night to Duncan and Tessa.

"Whoa... look at you!" he exclaimed looking at Tessa. "You look great!"

"Why, thank you, Richie. Are you sure you're going to be alright alone?"

Richie smiled. "I'm eighteen, Tess. I'll be fine."

"Richie, food is on the table," Duncan told him. "And I hope to find you in bed when we get back."

Richie rolled his eyes. "Okay."

"See you in the morning, Rich."

"Night, guys."

Duncan took Tessa's arm and Richie walked them to the back door.

"Oh, and Richie?" Tessa turned around.

"Yeah, Tess?"

"Enjoy your pizza. But eat a salad first."

Richie looked at Duncan who shrugged, "I don't know how she does it either."

Richie went back into the kitchen and went straight for the phone. He had the phone number to the pizza place memorized.

"Hi. I need a delivery..."

Forty minutes later, Richie was sitting on the couch with a slice of pizza in one hand and a root beer in the other, his eyes glued to the screen as the brain sucking zombies from Mars took over the small town in Iowa.

"We can't go through with this!" Mary exclaimed watching Collin load a pistol. "You cannot kidnap someone."

"We can and we will. This is the fastest way to get the money before Benny decides that he has to squeeze it out of me."

"He's just a kid!"

"And his parents are rich."

"Collin, you can't do this!"

"We won't hurt him. Just keep him in your parent's house for a few days then when his parents give us the money we give him back. No harm done."

"I don't know, Collin. That house is practically condemned."

"Its still standing, isn't it? Mary, think about it. We charge the parents twice what we need to pay Benny, then we have plenty of money to leave Washington and start over. We can buy a house. Get married. Have kids..."

"And have the cops after us."

"No. That's the beauty. No cops involved. We grab the kid. Tell his parents the when, where and how. They give us the money; we give them the kid." Mary thought about it. "We'll be set. No worries. No one looking for us. Just lots of money in the bank."

"And he won't be hurt?"

"Not a hair on his head."

"We have to do it tonight?"

"His parents will be gone until one or two. We go in at midnight."

Mary sighed and looked at the bag on the bed. "You know where we're going?"

"I followed the home from the store. 1523 Westbrook."

The credits were rolling and Richie was falling asleep on the couch. He hadn't realized how tired he was. He pushed himself off the couch and threw his empty can in the recycling bin and put his left over pizza in the refrigerator. The more he moved around, the more tired he got. He flipped off the lights in the kitchen before going to brush his teeth.

He crawled into bed and turned on his alarm before falling asleep.

"Okay, we give him a few minutes to get nice and relaxed then we go in," Collin said as the last light in the loft went out.

"Which room is his?" Mary asked.

"We'll find him. He's the only one home."

They waited on pins and needles as Richie slowly drifted into a relaxed, comfortable limbo between sleep and awake.

"You keep quiet. Don't say a word, just do what I told you," Collin whispered, opening the car door.

The streets were deserted. The only light was the soft glow of the moon from overhead.

Tessa looked at the clock on the wall in the banquet hall. "Oh, my. One thirty already. Duncan, we really should be going."

"Oh, Tessa, the night is young," Monique, an artist friend, teased. "Since when do you have a curfew?"

"Since we have a teenager at home to set an example for."

"You have a point," Duncan agreed. "We should get home."

It took them another half hour to say their good byes and get in the car.

"I hope he's in bed," Duncan said as he started the engine. "I need his help in the store tomorrow and I don't want him to be tired and cranky all day."

"I know what you have planned for him," Tessa laughed. "He's going to be cranky no matter how much sleep he gets."

Duncan smiled. "True."

When they pulled up to the store, the first thing Duncan noticed was the back door hanging open.

"Duncan..." Tessa had noticed, too.

"Tess, I want you take a little drive. Come back in five minutes."

"Okay." She took his place in the driver's seat and pulled out of the alley.

Duncan drew his sword before cautiously entered the workshop. Nothing seemed out of place, except the glass door to the kitchen was open, too.

"Richie?" he called, making his way back to the teen's room. He took a mental inventory as he walked across the apartment. Expensive items from the store were left in their places, no drawers were open, nothing missing. "Rich?"

Was it possible Richie was asleep and had missed whatever had happened? He opened the door to Richie's room...his bed was empty.

Tessa drove to the pier and back. Duncan was waiting for her in the doorway.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"It's Richie, he's gone."

"He ran away?"

"No, he's been kidnapped." He handed her the note he had found on the kitchen counter. "That's Richie's handwriting."

"Mom and Dad

I'm okay. I'm not hurt. They want you to bring $150,000 dollars to the founder's statue in Highcliff Park at 2:30 Tuesday morning. No cops or they won't let me come home. I love you. Your son, Richie."

Richie tried as best he could to keep track of where the car was going. Right, about three blocks, right, another block, right again, and on forever. The radio was blaring oldies music, but he could still hear people talking in the front seat. He just couldn't make out what they were saying. Another right. Were they going in a circle?

Oh, God. Where were they taking him? How much longer was he going to be back here? He figured he was on the floorboards of the back seat of a four door car.

They drove around for what felt like hours. They were driving in circles. Richie had been was completely disoriented when the car stopped and the engine turned off. He heard he door by his feet open and someone grab his ankles.

They pulled him roughly out of the car. He balanced awkwardly on his taped together feet. Someone threw him over their shoulder and carried him up a small flight of stairs, down a hallway and into a room where they dropped him on a mattress. Then he heard a door close and lock.

Now that he wasn't crammed into a back seat Richie tried to get loose. There was duct tape around his ankles and his wrists behind his back. He had a cloth over his eyes and tape around his head to hold it in place and tape over his mouth. He struggled, twisted, pulled, and wiggled but nothing gave.

Tessa held onto Duncan as they sat on the couch together.

"Who would do this to us?" she whispered.

"I don't know."

"Why? Why us?"

"Because we have what they need. And now they have what we want."

"What are we going to do?"

"Just what they ask. We get the money; we met them and we get Richie back. That's all we can do."

"What if they hurt him?"

"They won't."

"You don't know that!" Tessa snapped. "We don't know who they are; we don't know where he is; we don't know if he's okay; we don't even know if he's alive!"

"We don't know that's he isn't, either," Duncan said, trying to calm her down. "Panicking and 'freaking out' isn't going to help anything. We have to keep calm, do what they told us to and trust that at two thirty one Tuesday morning we will have Richie back safe and sound."

"I'm just so worried about him. He must be scared."

Duncan put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. "I am, too."