Well, you all are amazing. But you all already knew this. Haha. Yeah, work was evil to the extreme, because apparently everyone loves to do their grocery shopping on the 4th of July. Who knew? Anyway, here is your next installment of my story. If it is not in italics, Elsie is speaking, and sooner or later Greg will switch with her and narrate the rest, but I will make sure to let you know when that happens! For now, just enjoy (and review too! I think we can make it into triple digits. squee)
Chapter Twenty: Into the Fire
Even though you can't hear me, you must listen. You'll find the car, trust me. You'll find the person who owns the car, and you'll find out where they're taking me and why, but you won't find me. They've disguised me, replaced my clothes with Muslim ones. I stirred, opened my eyes groggily, wondering where I was, and I saw them. There were two of them, man and woman, dressed in traditional Muslim dress. And I wondered why I felt so different. I realized immediately that my clothes were replaced, and I was dressed like them. And I knew that this would be difficult, that you would have trouble finding me when they could hide me so easily. But please, please, as she puts the cloth over my nose and mouth again, I feel myself slipping. Please find me.
"The car treads match that of a Hyundai Sonata, and Kristina identified the car as the one that the kidnappers used to take Anna."
Mac raised his eyebrows. "There have to be hundreds of Sonatas in New York," he stated. Hawkes held up his hand to continue.
"Yes, but Kristina also pointed out that from the looks of it, the license plate did not match that of a New York one, which is why," he said, pulling out a piece of paper, "I took the liberty of looking up all Sonatas with out-of-state license plates, and wouldn't you know…"
"…there's only one," Mac said with a grin. "Jessie Clark, moved down here about three months ago from Nevada."
"Do you think they could be taking her to Nevada?" I asked with growing anticipation. They couldn't possibly get out of New York that quickly…could they?
"They could be, but they won't get that far," Mac said with determination. He stood up from his chair and hurried out the door. "We've got someone to visit," he replied over his shoulder, waving Clark's address. Hawkes caught up with him, and Kristina and I looked at each other, then followed them down to the SUV.
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Mac pounded at the residence of Jessie Clark. A woman could be heard from inside. "Alright, alright, I'm comin'," she yelled from inside. Opening the door, we all were quite surprised to find an elderly woman in a bathrobe. "Yeah, what do ya want?" she asked, adjusting her glasses.
"Does a Jessie Clark live here?" Mac asked curiously. The woman nodded her head, but a scowl remained on her face, probably from being disturbed.
"Yeah, I'm Jessie. What can I do for ya?"
Hawkes held up a picture of the black Sonata. "Is this your car ma'am?"
The woman squinted and looked at the car. "Yeah, although I let my grandson Cameron borrow it sometimes. In fact, he and his wife were plannin' some little escapade out west this week. I figured that as long as they returned it to me without a scratch or a dent that they could borrow it. Why? Did he wreck my car? Because if he did, I swear to God…"
"The car has been used in a kidnapping, Mrs. Clark," Mac interrupted. The woman's eyes narrowed.
"Are you sure?" she asked.
Hawkes and Mac nodded. "Your car has a Nevada license plate, correct?" Hawkes asked. The woman nodded.
"Yeah, moved down here a few months ago and was going to get myself a new one soon. You don't think…no…he couldn't have…who did he kidnap?"
I looked at Kristina and spoke up for the first time. "My best friend. He took my best friend," I said coldly. Mac looked at Mrs. Clark.
"He kidnapped one of our CSIs, and we're not sure of why he took her or where he is planning on taking her. Now, you said that he was taking a road trip out west with his wife, right?"
Mrs. Clark nodded, and ushered the officers in so that we could talk more. "Yes," she said, sitting down on the couch. "He married an Arabic woman named Mahala a few years ago, and ever since then, Cameron was never the same. I am not sure exactly what she did to him, but she changed him. He would go out for hours and practice rituals and go to meetings and these kinds of séance things…it was all very strange. I was pretty sure that whatever religion that woman was, it was something very odd."
Mac furrowed his eyebrows. "So, do you think it was more of a cult, rather than a religion?"
The woman nodded. "Yeah, seemed to be that way".
Mac was jotting down notes. "Now, when was the last time you saw Cameron?"
The woman thought. "Well, it must have been a few days ago. He asked to borrow the car, since he doesn't have one of his own. I thought, sure, what the heck, the kid needs some time to clear his head. He told me that he had wanted to take Mahala out west to show her all of the sights and stuff."
"Wait a second," Kristina interjected, "Mahala must be an accomplice in this then, if not the kidnapper."
I thought. Kristina was probably right. If there was no trace of blood in the alleyway, then the kidnapper must have been gentle with Anna. And if that was the case, it would be much easier for a woman to lure another woman into an alley than a man.
"That makes sense," Hawkes said with a nod. "But we still don't know exactly where they are taking her, or why, for that matter."
"We'll start trying to track the car," Mac said with authority. "In the mean time," he said, turning to Mrs. Clark and handing her a card, "if you hear anything from your grandson, you need to give me a call."
Mrs. Clark nodded. "I really hope you find her," she said. Mac looked at her and nodded determinedly.
"We will."
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Mac's office phone began to ring as soon as we were back at the lab. Kristina and I filed into his office to sit down, and saw the look on his face. Get Stella, he mouthed. I ran down the hall and into the AV lab where Stella was trying to find any surveillance video of the kidnapping from the surrounding stores.
"Mac needs you," I said, running out of breath. I was not in shape at all. Stella took off jogging for Mac's office, just as he put down the receiver.
"That," he said with a tight jaw, "was our kidnapper."
Stella's eyes were wide. "Well, what did he want? Ransom? What?"
Mac shook his head. "He just told me that if I got the police in any state involved with this, then he would kill Anna right away."
Stella's gaze grew cold. "What does he mean 'right away'?"
Mac ran a hand through his hair. "I have no idea. He wouldn't tell me. He knows that we have the get-away car. He even told us that he took her in a 2006 black Sonata."
Stella was puzzled. "Why did he tell us that? Does he want to get caught?"
Mac shook his head. "This guy is weird Stella. He doesn't want ransom, and seemed to be in his right state of mind when I spoke to him just now…"
Danny ran into the room, Lindsay shortly behind him. "They found the car," he said grimly.
"Outside of the city," Lindsay finished with a dismal look on her face.
I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. "Then why the long faces? The police found the car, you should be excited."
Lindsay shook her head. "There's no one in the car, Elsie. They're gone again."
You knocked me out with chloroform. And here I am, stuffed in the back of some truck, crossing what I think is Pennsylvania, or New Jersey. I can't tell. We've stopped only once, outside of New York City, so that we could be transferred here. Someone else is driving, someone who picked us up. I don't know where else we are going, but I think I can hear airplanes in the distance. Oh God. They're taking me on an airplane. Oh God. They have me in a new disguise now, with glasses, a pair of slacks, and a University of Nevada sweatshirt. And I am wearing a wig. Looking into the mirror, I don't even recognize myself. That's the idea, I guess. If I can't even recognize me, how will everyone else? My kidnappers too have changed their appearances, like chameleons, perfectly blending in with the bustle of society. And I think to myself that I will never be rescued. How can you rescue someone who you can't see?
Dun-dun-dun. The kidnappers have changed their appearances and modes of transportation in order to make sure that police and others don't realize that they are Anna's kidnappers. They have even forced Anna to change her appearance in order to not be noticed as the one they kidnapped. Yep. And so goes the end of this chapter. Please, please, please R&R and let's see if we can make it to 100 reviews soon!
