Chapter Seven

"Benito!"

The sounds of a thick German accent filled the kitchen of Mystique as a blonde haired man wearing a white chef's hat barreled through the room. Knocking over a bottle of olive oil, Mike nearly collided with the man.

"Whoa! G, where's the fire?"

Gunther gasped in surprise, "Mike! Oh my good friend, Mike, how are you?"

Mike gave him a soft smile, "Listen, Gunther, we need to talk, is there someplace we can go?"

The German man's face immediately became a mask of seriousness, "Sure, sure, we can go in here."

Gunther led Mike into a back room and closed the door, turning to look at the man, he said, "What is it?"

"Listen," Mike began softly, "Delinda's not gonna be in for a while. There's been a family emergency?"

"Is it Ed?" Gunther asked, his face suddenly ashen.

"No, no, Ed's cool, he's cool," Mike reassured, "Sam's little girl, Jasmine..."

"Ahh, yes," the other man responded with a nod of his head, "the only girl to ever get me to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches,"

"Yeah," the man sighed with a sigh, "she's been kidnapped. Ed and Sam are a mess and so's Delinda so she's not going to be in for a while, at least not until they find her."

Gunther's face went paler than before, "Oh god... You tell Sam, and Ed, and Delinda... that Gunther will keep them in his thoughts and prayers."

Mike nodded, "I will, man, thanks. I need to get going, I have to get some stuff done, I just wanted to let you know what was going on."

The German man nodded as he gave Mike a pat on the shoulder. After the man had left, Gunther turned around, "Benito! You gypsy boy, where are you?"

Ed slowly walked into the bedroom, hoping to find Sam sleeping. Sighing quietly when he found her wide awake and on the phone, he walked further into the room, "Sam?"

"Shh!" The woman said, holding a finger up to him. Going back to her phone conversation, she said, "So you are sure that there's absolutely no way they could be behind this?" Sighing deeply, she nodded as she closed her eyes, "Yeah, okay, I just wanted to be sure. Thanks, Margie, for your help." She hung the phone up and lowered her head.

"What's going on?" Ed inquired as he sat down next to her, his hand resting on her knee.

"I just got off the phone with the facilities that the Clines are in. I wanted to know if this was sanctioned by them."

Nodding the man mentally kicked himself for not thinking of checking into that earlier. Wrapping an arm around her shoulders, Ed pulled her close and kissed the top of her head, softly, "Did I ever tell you about the time Jillian and I thought Delinda was kidnapped?"

"No," Sam said as she wiped a stray tear.

"We were on a rare vacation in Miami, we rented a condo right on the beach. Anyway, Delinda had to have been five or six at the time. Anyway, we just got to the hotel and she wanted to go to the beach. Jillian and I were absolutely exhausted, all we wanted to do was relax in the room, have some dinner and call it an early night. Delinda, she wouldn't hear anything of it." He paused, his finger circling around her knee slowly, "Anyway," he began with a heavy sigh, "things erupted into an argument and we ended up putting her to bed early, and the last thing she said to either of us was, 'one of these days, I won't be here for you to boss around'."

"Ouch," Sam winced.

"Yeah," he agreed. "Jill and I, we just thought that she was just spouting off at the mouth the way kids tend to do, so we watched some television and went to bed. The next morning, I woke up to the sounds of Jillian screaming. I ran into where the bedroom where Delinda was sleeping, only to find it empty with the window wide open and the curtains blowing. It looked like a kidnapping, Sam, there was every indication that that's exactly what it was."

Turning, she looked at him, "What did you do?"

"We notified the police immediately. We did everything that you and I are doing now. Jillian was a mess, couldn't stop crying for five minutes, they ended up having to call in a doctor and give her a mild sedative just so she could be calm enough to get some sleep. I really thought it was a kidnapping, Sam. I mean, at the time I was still active in the Company, and, in fact, Jack and I just got back from Ireland after busting a group of thugs."

"Wait a sec," she interrupted, "Jack? As in Keller?"

Ed nodded, "Yeah, he wasn't lying when he said we were partners."

"Damn," she said softly.

"Anyway, for almost three days Jillian and I were absolutely nuts with worry and sick with guilt and regret. Then one night, about eleven or so, there was a knock on the door and it was the police. Immediately we expected the worst, we thought they had found her dead, or something. We opened the door and there was an officer holding Delinda. Turns out, she got so pissed off at us for not going to the beach that night, that she ran away and got lost."

"Oh god," Sam said as she closed her eyes with a heavy sigh. "I don't think that Jasmine would run away, though, Ed."

"No," he agreed, "I don't either, but the point is that she was found and she was okay." Ed shifted his body to look at her, "I won't rest until that little girl is back with us, Sam. If I have to go days without sleep, than I will. Even if I have to call Luis every hour on the hour, I will."

The woman nodded as some more tears fell. "Okay," she whispered as she hugged him. "I never thought I'd ever love anybody as much as I love the two of you, Ed. If something happens to her..."

"Shh," he said, cutting her off, "don't think that. She's going to be fine."

Sam nodded and sighed deeply, "Yeah," she said.

Ed kissed her temple and pulled back, looking at her, "I want you to get some rest, okay? For me, please, just lay down and try and get a little sleep."

"I can't sleep, Ed," she said as she shook her head.

"Honey, you are beyond exhausted, please, just for an hour."

"Ed," Sam began, "you are exhausted too."

He sighed, "You want me to stay with you until you fall asleep?"

She narrowed her eyes at him, "You aren't going to back off from this, are you?"

"Have I ever backed off from anything, Sam?" Ed asked pointedly.

"Good point," she admitted. "Okay, fine, I'll try to sleep, but, yes, I want you to stay with me till I fall asleep."

He nodded as he took his shoes off, "Okay."

Once Sam had laid down on the bed, Ed laid down next to her, rolling over onto his side so he was facing her back. Draping an arm around her hip, he stayed with her until he heard the heavy, sleep induced breathing.

"Where's our money?"

Larry McCoy looked up at the men who were standing before his desk. Feeling a wave of fear run through him, the man rose to his feet, "It's coming. I haven't gotten it yet, but I swear to god, you'll get it, I just need some time."

One of the men, dressed in black, shook his head, "Not wise, McCoy. I told you, 30,000 by today, and you haven't gotten it. I guess that raises it up to, what," he turned and looked at the other man, "fifty?"

His accomplice nodded, "Fifty sounds good."

Larry closed his eyes as he sighed, "You will have the money, I promise. I just need a little bit of time to gather it up."

"You see, that's where I start to get concerned about your hearing, McCoy. I didn't say 'I want the money at your earliest convenience'. I said, 'I want the money now'. You ran and played with the big dogs and now you have to pay up like a big dog."

"I didn't do anything!" Larry said, "All I did was get a building permit and start construction, that's it."

"You started construction on land that belonged to me!" The man said. Turning to look at his friend, he accepted the baseball bat that was being held to him. "Maybe this will give you some incentive to get your ass in gear."

That said, the man took the baseball bat and began to hit Larry's computer and other equipment. After thoroughly trashing the office, he threw the bat down as the accomplice ran up from behind Larry and grabbed his arms and pinned them behind.

Once Larry was held, the man in black balled his fist up and began to deliver blows into the man's stomach and ribs. After a good ten minutes, the accomplice threw Larry to the ground as the man in black sneered down at him, "Fifty grand by tomorrow or the next time I'll use the bat on your head!"

McCoy groaned in pain as the men walked out.

"You don't know me," The woman insisted as she looked at Jasmine. "I am a friend of your parents."

Jasmine looked at her curiously, "Where are mama and daddy? Why aren't they here?"

"Your parents," the woman began, "decided that they didn't want you anymore. They were going to drop you off at family services tonight, so I took you instead. I'm your new mommy and we are going to meet your new daddy now."

"No!" The girl screamed, "My mommy and daddy love me and want me."

"Jacinda," the woman said, "your parents are selfish people. They only care about themselves and money."

Jasmine looked at her, confused, "My name is Jasmine."

The woman smiled, "Your father and I felt that Jacinda was a much prettier name."

The plane began its descent and the woman smiled at her, "Buckle up, Jacinda, soon we will be with daddy."