OOOO

Ch 7

Jim Davidson sat at the wheel of his speeding pickup truck, madder than a rattler and fixed upon finding Cathy, to account for the trouble she had caused.

The closer to The House he got, the more uncontrollable his rage got. He'd make her pay, goodness knows he'd make her pay.

As Jim's car screeched to a halt in the driveway, Cathy snuck out the back with her duffle bag over one shoulder. She had to get out of there and she had to get far away.

The next day, a full police search was launched. As Mac tried, yet again, to get in touch with Harm, she left a message on his answering service, updating him on the situation.

After ruling out many other places near town, where Catriona might be hiding, Police Captain Lundt decided to call in all available back-up units to follow him to an abandoned railway yard, which was frequented by the town's kids. Hearing his plan, Mac insisted on going with him, finally having to threaten him with a lawsuit in order to convince him to do so.

OOOO

Cathy woke up in the freezing box car to the sound of police sirens in the distance. She quickly packed her sleeping bag back into her bag before opening the train car door to make a run for it. However, she found that police officers were already on the surrounding platforms, so she dropped her bag and proceeded to only way she could; Up.

As Mac pulled up to the train yard, she saw that police officers were already engaged in a fast paced pursuit with Catriona along the top of an old train car, at the far end of the yard. Running towards her, Mac watched as Cathy jumped from the top of the train to the support beams beneath an overhead bridge, climbing up onto the bridge and running down the stairs towards the platform. Cathy ran towards Mac, only to be tackled one hundred yards away by Captain Lundt, who jumped out from behind an old signal box. The other police officers descended on her, as she screamed with all her might for Mac. Captain Lundt restrained Mac as she struggled to get to Cathy.

"No, no! Let me through. I have to get to her, I have to talk to her."

Captain Lundt however, did not relent and insisted that Mac calm herself. Cathy was dragged, fighting all the way, to a waiting squad car. As she pleaded with Mac, Mac broke down, unable to hold the tears back.

"Mac, please! Please don't leave me, please don't let them take me back there! Mac, please, help me!" She was silenced as the squad car doors were slammed shut and the car drove off, leaving a hysterical Mac with Captain Lundt.

As Mac began to calm down, Captain Lundt explained how Cathy would be sedated, then returned to her Uncle's care.

"I hate to bring this up, Colonel MacKenzie, but did you consider the possibility that Cathy is acting up due to your visit?"

At this, Mac shot him a dirty look, but he continued, "Until You arrived, Cathy had managed to put all her life back into order. Her grades only started to drop recently and she had almost no problems in school."

Then, on a softer note, he began to reason, "Colonel, we have to do what is best for Cathy. I'm not talking about cutting yourself out of her life completely, simply returning to D.C. for a week or so, until Cathy has calmed down a bit. It is obvious that she needs serious, psychiatric help and once we've established her on a course of therapy and medical treatment, we can re-introduce your role in her life, under controlled circumstances."

In the end, the Captain had convinced Mac to give the whole situation some time and to return to D.C. Although she had not been keen on the idea at first, she now thought that this might be the best thing for Cathy, as she recalled Cathy's unapproachable mood the night before. What could she do by hanging around? So she drove back to D.C., confident that the authorities would do what was best for Cathy and keep her out of harm's way.

OOOO