"We have a problem!" Camille declared, entering her house and slamming the door behind her.
"Indeed?" inquired Matt, stepping into the foyer just ahead of Judge Lane.
"Some cop has absconded with Joe," Camille informed the head of the Assassins and her dad. "Frank went to the police station with his father just before school let out."
"Do you have a name?" Lane asked his daughter.
"It's that O'Neil you were telling Joe about last night," Camille informed him.
"If O'Neil does have Joe, and the police can't find him, then our entire plan is ruined," Judge Lane stated grimly.
"Not if we find O'Neil," Matt said calmly. "Some hick cop is not going to prevent my brother from becoming an Assassin." Matt looked at Camille. "Offer to help in any way you can," he instructed her. "I'll see to it that Officer O'Neil is found along with Joe."
"I hope so," Camille said. "But he is a cop. He will know how to cover his tracks."
Matt smiled at Camille's naivety. "I always get what I want," he told her in a deceptively gentle voice. "Don't ever doubt that."
"Sir, you wanted to see me?" Sergeant Riley asked, entering the chief's office in blue denim shorts and a pale gray shirt. It was the first of Con's four days off and he had been outside mowing the yard when his pager had gone off.
"You know O'Neil as well as anyone on the force?" Collig asked him, getting straight to the point.
"Yes, Sir," Con acknowledged, his forehead breaking out in worry lines as he looked at the troubled faces of Frank and Fenton. "Where's Joe?" he asked, feeling a brick of lead settle in his stomach.
"O'Neil has him," Frank answered. "He grabbed Joe at school this afternoon."
"But...why?" Con asked, completely confused at the turn of events.
"We don't know," Collig said. "His kid brother was murdered shortly before he transferred here but that's the only thing showing that could be a warning sign."
"Did O'Neil ever talk about Joe or Frank?" Fenton asked Con.
"Only casually," Con replied. "When he first started here, he asked who they were because they always tried to get involved with whatever was going on. And once, I remember, he commented on how close they were and how sad it would be for them as they grew older. I thought he meant because they would be growing apart as they made their own futures."
Frank snorted. Even after he was married and had kids of his own, Joe would still be as important to him as he was now. Con shot Frank an apologetic look.
"Do you know what O'Neil did on his days off?" Collig asked Con.
"He volunteered at the youth center," Con answered. "And he liked to go backpacking."
"Anywhere specific?" Collig snapped the question.
Con frowned. "He used to go to the North Woods a lot but about six months ago, he quit. He started going to the woods west of Southport."
"I'll alert Chief Raymond," Collig said, naming Southport's newly appointed chief of police. "He can get some men and search the woods there. I will organize a search party for the North Woods."
"You think he could be hiding Joe somewhere in the woods?" Con asked, rubbing the back of his neck thoughtfully.
"He doesn't have him at his place," the chief answered. "And wherever he has Joe, it's a safe bet that he will know the area thoroughly."
"Maybe we should start the search south of the falls," Con suggested. "That was where he was headed the last time he went into the North Woods. If he has been planning this for awhile, he probably found a place and decided not to return there, at least and let anyone know about it, just in case someone caught on."
"Good idea," Fenton congratulated Con. Collig nodded his approval. "When do we leave?" Fenton continued, turning to look at Collig.
"As soon as we get a few more men and supplies," Collig replied. "It will be dark in a few hours but if we use night-vision goggles we can take O'Neil by surprise if he is there."
"I see something," Officer Brandon's voice came softly through the talkie on Chief Collig's shoulder. "A cabin ahead," Brandon continued. "There's someone lying on the ground, tied up."
"Move in quietly," Collig ordered. "Everyone."
Con turned to Frank who was accompanying him while Fenton stayed next to the chief several yards away. "Let's go," he told Frank in a hushed voice.
"There's no movement in front," Frank observed quietly.
They reached the cabin and cautiously edged up to the window. There was no sound from within so Con and Frank peered inside. "The cabin looks deserted, Sir," Con spoke into his talkie.
"Copy that," Collig answered. "Move in but be careful of destroying evidence," he cautioned. "And send Frank around back." Con relayed the chief's orders and proceeded into the cabin via the unlocked front door.
"Dr. Reynolds!" Frank exclaimed when he reached his dad and Chief Collig who were helping the man who had been tied up to his feet at the back of the cabin. "Are you okay?"
"I will be," Reynolds declared grimly. He looked at Frank with a frown on his face as he rubbed his sore wrists were the rope had cut into his flesh. "They left hours ago," he declared. "O'Neil was determined to get Joe as far away from Bayport as fast as he could."
"Do you know why he wants my son?" Fenton inquired.
"He wants to isolate him from the world," Reynolds informed the men. "He has transferred his feelings for his brother onto Joe."
"He feels responsible for his brother's murder," Fenton said, nodding his understanding.
"You said 'isolate him'," Frank said, his brow furrowing. "How? Where?"
"I don't know," Reynolds admitted. "I just know that much from his ramblings while he was hauling me out here. But I can tell you one thing about him," he continued. "He has planned Joe's abduction for some time. Finding them won't be easy."