Disclaimer: This story has the typical violence you'll see in the show along with all the angst. I try not to get too off character or too violent, but I'm giving it a mature rating just to be on the safe side.
I of course own nothing and get nothing but the satisfaction of writing the story and hopefully making it enjoyable for others as well. Comments are always welcome, good or bad. Thank you and I hope you enjoy it.
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"Are you insane!" The voice was strained and angry.
"No. I told you I wanted that book. You were just incapable of getting it for me. So I'll get it myself." The second voice was smooth and controlled.
"But you don't know if it's even the book you've been looking for. I told you I thought it might be. You should have given me more time. You're going to ruin everything."
"Don't be silly. We'll get the book and she'll become another face on the back of a milk carton, never to be seen again. Just like the others."
"The others were runaways and homeless, without anyone to care about whether or not they were alive or dead. This is different. She's known and wealthy. People will miss her and look for her."
"It doesn't matter who looks where, it never does. And if you're overly concerned we could try the re-education process.
There is a sharp intake of breath, "you can't be serious. That never works. You know, sometimes you surprise me. With all your brains, you do some of the most stupid things!" There is a loud smacking sound and everything goes quiet for a few moments.
"Don't ever forget little brother, where everything you have came from. Now feed her and ask her for the book."
"I can't and you know it. Have your goon squad do it; they seemed to have fun tearing up her house and kidnapping her. I'm sure a littler interrogation will suit them just as well. I have to get back. Just remember that I told you in the beginning, you're making a mistake with this one."
Footsteps trail off in two different directions. Sarah just curls up in the corner of the bed placed against the back wall of a small dingy room. She can smell mold and air is damp. Uncontrollable tears run down her cheeks and her only thoughts are repeats of the attack at her house. She has no idea how long she's been sitting there, but it seems like forever.
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Curled up on the bed, she lost the passage of time. At one point, the two large men that had grabbed her in her home entered the room. Panic swept over her and she cringed in the corner waiting for the interrogation she'd heard the voices talking about. Instead, they sneered at her and put a plate of food and a cup of water down on the floor near the bed and walked back out.
Trying to compose herself, she went to look at the food. It was actually appetizing to look at, the drink was just water, but the food was a deli sandwich and some chips. Unfortunately, the plate and cup were plastic so she couldn't use them for anything else. Not that she really knew what she would have done if they had been made of any other more durable material.
Hesitantly she looked at the sandwich, checking to see what was on it. She was hungry and her stomach was growling viciously at her, but she was afraid. What if they put something in the food or the water? She was starting to get some of her senses back. She'd been so afraid before, so completely terrified. Now, she started to look around her room in hopes of finding a way out.
Everything outside the door was quiet and there was very little light coming from out there. Which didn't help her ability to see what was in the room. She didn't have her own light, so the only way to see was using the light that came under the door and through a small window. Looking out the window she could only see a hallway with small lights receded into the ceiling every so often. She tried to look around her room as best as she could but there wasn't anything to see. Just her bed, the plate of food, and the cup of water. Feeling a growing sensation of dread, she climbed back into the bed, covered up, and tried desperately to fall asleep.
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"Hurry up Dean," Sam pleaded as Dean attempted to fill up the car with gas.
"I'm going as fast as I can Sam, this thing will only pump the gas so fast." Dean was extremely concerned about Sam as well as Sarah. Sam refused to eat anything and he hadn't said much except for Dean to go faster. Sarah … well, there was no telling what was going on with her. She was attacked and they had no clue what had happened or why. Mr. Blake answered her home phone but would not tell them anything and he rushed to get off the phone because the police were wired to listen in case someone called with a ransom. The fact that she'd been gone for a day and no one had requested a ransom scared them all even more.
Dean finished filling up, quickly paid, and floored the gas as they pulled out of the station.
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They drove all night and into the morning before they finally reached the auction house. No one was there. Sam suddenly realized that he couldn't remember and Dean had never actually been to Sarah's house. They had no idea where she lived. The auction house was closed and no one answered when they knocked.
Sam was beginning to panic and lose it. Dean knew he had to think of something fast. He was going to suggest county property records but was interrupted as the squad car pulled up with lights flashing…
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Dean felt a heartbeats worth of panic as the car pulled up with the light flashing and an officer stepped out of the car. The office was cautious and stayed behind his door. Dean could sense his hand resting on his revolver. Sam, still in panic mode just ran towards the cop, must to Dean's surprise and horror. "What the hell are you thinking," is what he wanted to shout, instead he just stood watching and hoping for the best while trying to come up with a way to get out of this.
Sam didn't care it was a cop, he was actually quite glad to see him. He ran up, which caused the man to become extremely tense. Through the window, Sam could see that his hand had moved to his revolver, unsnapped it, and had a good grip ready to pull it from its holster. Sam stopped, "Officer, please, do you know about Sarah?" His voice was pleading and shaky, "she left us a voice mail two days ago and we've been driving non-stop, something's happened to her!"
That caused the office to relax just a bit, but not much. "I'm officer Dunkum, who are you, family?"
"No sir, we're friends of Sarah's. I'm Sam and this is Dean. Please, can you tell us what's happened?" Dean held his breath as his heart jumped. Now he really wanted to smack Sam in the head, how could he just blurt out his name to a cop?
"I'm sorry sir, I can't divulge any information to anyone who is not family. You said she left you a voice mail? Why don't you come with me to the station? The FBI has set up some equipment there and we can analyze that message."
Now Dean was really getting nervous. "We'll follow you there," he finally blurted out in hopes he could get Sam back in the car for a real chewing out. The officer nodded and waiting for Sam to get in their car before getting back into his own. They pulled out of the driveway and headed for the station. All the while the office kept watch in his rear view mirror and Dean argued with Sam.
"Are you completely and totally insane! Not only did you give a cop our names but now you've got us going to the police station too!" Dean knew his brother was scared for Sarah and didn't want to do this, but they couldn't just waltz into the police station with FBI agents all around. "Dean, we gotta find out what happened to her. She said she'd found something that was our kind of weird. What if because I showed her about the painting she started seeing other things that she normally wouldn't?"
"Sammy, don't start the damn 'it's all my fault' crap. You hear me? This taking on the problems of the whole world is getting ridiculous. We showed her the painting and we opened her eyes. Not you." Dean shook his head in frustration. "What are we going to tell the FBI when we get here? What if they try to check us out?"
Sam just lowered his head and sighed. "I don't know. We used Conners as a last name when we were here before. We'll just use it again. Maybe they wont look us up. But if the voice mail helps them find Sarah before … before it's too late, then I'm willing to take the risk."
They both sat in silence the remainder of the trip, lost in their own thoughts. Once they arrived at the station, they parked in the visitor section. Glancing at each other, they took a deep breath. "Here we go," breathed Dean as they got out of the car and headed into the station behind officer Dunkum.
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Once inside, Dean and Sam sat nervously outside in the waiting room. What seemed like hours passed by when officer Dunkum finally came out and waved for them to follow. Dean watched every movement of every person he could to see if there was any indication that they were about to be arrested. Officer Dunkum led them to an office upstairs and near the back of the station. It was a fairly large and had all kinds of electronic equipment set up.
A man wearing the typical agent suit walked up to them and offered his hand, "I'm Special Agent Ayotte. I've been told by officer Dunkum that you might have information to assist us in the disappearance of Sarah Blake." The disappearance of… echoed through Sam's head.
"So you don't know what's happened or where she is?" Sam's heart sank, but he pulled out the cell phone and dialed in for the messages. The agent watched patiently as he replied, "at this point, no." Sam retrieved the message and handed the phone over. Ayotte took the phone towards the equipment as he listed carefully.
There was another man sitting behind the computer and took the phone from Ayotte. He examined the phone and then went through a case. Pulling out an adapter, he connected Sam's phone with the computer system. They replayed the message as it recorded into the system. This was the first time Dean had actually heard the message and he now understood why Sam was so upset. It didn't sound good. And by the looks on the FBI agents faces, it wasn't good.
Once they completed recording the message, Ayotte brought the phone back to Sam, "thank you for your help. If you'd be so kind as to either wait here in the station for a while or give us your number so we can call you, just in case we need to get some more information." Sam hesitated for just a moment, and then asked for pen and paper. He wrote down his number and handed it to Ayotte, "can you call me when you find her? Please?"
Ayotte looked at the number, smiled a little, and said, "Sure, I can do that."
Dean led the way as they walked out of the police station. Sighing with relief as they reached the car, "we'll find her Sammy. First we need to find out where she lives." Dean drove the Impala to a nearby corner and parked. Sam looked around, "what are you doing?" Dean glanced over and smiled, "waiting for Special Agent Ayotte to leave … so we can follow him."