"What's going on?" Shari asked. She was leaning against the seat in front of her, where Dave sat.
"This doesn't look good," Dave said.
Marcus stopped the truck when one of Seth's guys stepped into the path and held up a hand. Marcus rolled down the window as the man came toward them.
"Can't let you past," John said. "Sorry, Marcus,"
"Why? What's going on?"
"Whitney has vanished. No one knows where. Seth ordered the entire area shut down until we find her."
"Missing? How? When?" Dave asked.
"Sometime last night. That's about all we know. The wires for four of the six security camera were cut. No new tire tracks, no obvious evidence of forced entry. She just vanished. Seth is upset."
Marcus had known that sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach had been a bad sign. Problem after problem had come up so that they'd arrived the next day, instead of the hours after Quinn had called.
Kate was pulling out her phone and dialing numbers. In a few moments, she had them cleared to go into the ranch. The first thing to draw their attention was Seth and Jesse. Jesse was sitting on the lowest step of the front porch and Seth was leaning on the railing, talking to him. Jesse looked up and shook his head. It looked like the boy was crying.
Dave helped Kate out of her seat. Holly squirmed around, demanding to be let down, but Kate held her tighter and whispered to her as they walked.
"Jesse, talk to me. This is serious; he could hurt her." Seth said.
"I told you everything I know," Jesse choked out. He was crying.
"Seth, calm down," Marcus touched Seth's shoulder and he turned. "Clam down,"
"I have to find her,"
The raw emotion in Seth's voice said a lot. He was in love with her.
"Alright, when was she last seen?"
"I sent her to bed last night, about midnight. She was reading. I got up near six and went around to check on everything and she was gone."
"Was the security system breeched?"
"No,"
"Cameras were cut?"
"Yes."
"Which ones?"
"Along the south sides,"
"Cut where?" Dave asked.
"From inside." Seth said. Everyone was silent.
"Why would she leave?" Seth asked.
"To protect you," Marcus said, looking at Seth. "She's hiding the extent of the danger from you and pushing her father to withdraw your group. She's trying to protect you, Seth."
"There was a second kind of communication. He contacted her again; told her to leave," Seth voiced the realization as it hit him.
"Was the system turned off?"
"No,"
Seth turned. "Jesse,"
Jesse turned his head, crying, refusing to look at Seth.
"Jesse, did you reset the system after she left?"
He was silent.
"Start a search, counterclockwise through the woods." Seth said. He continued issuing orders, taking in reports for the next few minutes. Kate sat down next to Jesse, having handed Holly to her father. She had already called Rachel and Lisa and Quinn should be here anytime now. Stephen, Megan, Jack and Cassie were coming too. Quinn had been right; this was an O'Malley problem. Marcus circled his arm around Shari.
Jesse suddenly jumped up and ran into the house. Seth started to go after him, but Dave caught his arm.
"Let him go,"
"Boss," John called as he walked over. Seth turned. John handed him paper. It was a satellite image. There was a truck, not two miles into the woods from the ranch, along a road. "We're working on downloading the path it took here and back; it's not there now."
"Make it fast, John." Seth said.
"Seth?" He turned again. Jesse was standing on the porch, holding a piece of paper.
"I did reset the system after he came back. Whitney asked me to give you this,"
Seth took it gingerly. His hands shook, his heart pounded against his chest, as he opened it.
Seth,
I asked you to leave and when you wouldn't I asked Dad to pull you out. Neither of you listened to me. Dad because he hasn't ever and you...
I wish you would have left. Now, when you find me gone, you'll feel obligated to come after me. Don't. Just go, Seth, just go away.
Whitney
Right above her name, something was marked out, not erased as it was in pen. There was also a stray mark on the bottom left corner, as if her hand had drifted across the paper just before she'd put the pen down. Seth stared through the marks above her name hard and for long seconds before realizing what it said. I love you. He looked up at Jesse.
"You made him mad, Seth," Jesse sobbed. "That's why he took her. You made him mad." Jesse sobbed into Kate's shoulder.
"Who is he, Jesse?" Seth kneeled next to the boy since he had collapsed, Kate still holding him while he cried.
Jesse sniffled. "Whitney called him Hawk. I don't know his name. I don't know what he asks her to do or what he does to her or anything. But I'm pretty sure he's the one who wrote the note she found."
"How long has he been around?" Dave asked.
"Sine I was nine, I guess... Whitney did was he told her because of me. Hawk said he'd kill me if she didn't. He had these three guys who would watch me when he took her away, and even when she was here. They never hurt me, but they weren't friendly, either."
"So this taking her away is not a first?" Seth asked.
Jesse shook his head. "No."
Seth stood. "I changed the security system when I got here. It's safe to assume he knew other old one, right—" Seth waited for Jesse to nod. "—But how would he know this one? And how would he know how to get around my guys?"
Silence lingered, interrupted only by the noise over Seth's radio and the shouts from the security searching the area.
"Boss, her horse is gone," the voice was broken over the radio as it came through.
"She took Fire with her a lot. I think he made her," Jesse said. "I don't know why,"
"Are any of the other horses missing?" Seth asked into the radio.
"Affirmative. One of the stallions, Dodge, I think,"
"Did Hawk take one of the horses here, too?" Seth asked Jesse.
"Sometimes," Jesse said. "He usually had a black stallion, though. I called him Blackheart because he was black and as mean and heartless as Hawk.
Seth put the radio back up to his mouth. "John, be looking for one or two horses, and find the time frames for when that truck got here and when it left,"
"I'm already on it,"
"He'll bring her back," Jesse said. Everyone stopped what they were doing to look at him. "He always brings her back after a few days,"
"He might not this time, Jesse. You said it yourself, Seth made him mad." Dave said.
"Marcus, can you find out where Aaron is right now? I want to eliminate him from our list."
"Got it," Marcus and Shari headed off toward the house.
"Mac," Seth said into his radio, "Get at least two men to keep an eye on Yuri and Wind. I want those background checks on both by the time the satellite images are available."
"Right,"
Quinn and Lisa arrived in the mess. Not long after, Jack, Cassie, Stephen and Megan made it to Whitney's ranch too.
Despite having started at dawn, Seth had little information he could use. The sun was near setting and he was stuck waiting on those images from space.
All he managed to do was pray. He couldn't handle it all on his own.