Sorry it took me so long to update… but here we go:

………………

„What are we going to do?" Danny asked looking over at Vivian.

For the first time this evening, Vivian was getting nervous, too. She hadn't expected the man to stop here in the middle of nowhere. Her plan had been to follow him to his house, see, if she and Danny could find anything suspicious around the place that could help them get a search warrant or maybe ring the doorbell and speak to the man.

But there was no sign of a house at all. Maybe he had found another hiding-place for the girls – somewhere in the middle of the forest – but there was no way to find out because if she stopped here now, he was bound to notice them, and there would probably be no chance he was going to lead them to his hiding place voluntarily.

There also wasn't enough time to call Jack because once the man had vanished into the woods there would be no chance for her and Danny to find him again and keep him from removing his victims.

Vivian sighed, it was all up to her now – and she was sitting in the car with a nervous rookie! Damn Jack, she thought but then something came to her mind.

It was dark, and Vivian had an idea. She looked at Danny. "Can I rely on you not doing anything stupid?" she asked.

Danny looked back at her, confused.

Vivian motioned towards the car in front of them; it was parked on the left side of the road and the lights had just gone out. Quickly she explained her plan: "I need you to get out of the car and follow the man into the woods while I'm going to drive on."

"What?"

"He needs to think it's save to go to wherever he's got his hiding-place. So you have to get out of the car quickly and not be seen! Follow him and inform me once you know where he's going."

"Sure I can do that", Danny said. He sounded confident, but it wasn't making Vivian feel better.

Nonetheless she nodded, stopping the car so Danny could get out. "And don't do anything, just follow him! I'm going to call Jack, once I'm in a safe distance."

Danny opened the passenger door and slipped out of the car quickly. Still the man in the other car hadn't gotten out and Vivian guessed he was waiting for her to drive past. She could only hope he hadn't seen Danny but there wasn't much she could do other than drive on. When she looked into the outside mirror she could only see darkness and she turned around to look through the back window. No sign of Danny.

Good. So far.

She could only hope he was up for the task.

When she had driven past the other car she looked into the mirror again to see if anything had happened. In the darkness she could only guess, but it looked as if the other car's door was being opened.

Vivian felt her heartbeat speed up, nervousness creeping into her, mercilessly. She hoped she had done the right thing or otherwise – she and Danny would probably be in trouble. Big trouble.

As soon as she had reached the next turn so she wouldn't be seen by their suspect anymore she slowed down the car and parked it at the side of the road. Then she reached for her cell phone and dialled the number, quickly.

"Malone."

"Jack, it's Viv. Listen, I think we might need some backup here."

"Where are you?"

Vivian told Jack everything he needed to know and when she was done, after hesitating for a moment she added: "Jack, I'm worried…"

"Worried?"

"That Danny might do something stupid. He was kinda edgy earlier, and although I told him…"

"Trust him, Viv. He'll do the right thing. And I'll send you some backup. Just keep me posted on what's going on."

"I will." Jack had already hung up when she added a whispered: "I hope you're right…"

Now there was nothing more she could do than wait. Vivian hated waiting anyways, but this time it was hell. She kept looking at her watch, waiting for Danny to report. Ten minutes had passed since he'd got out of the car, and Vivian felt like it had been an hour.

Twenty minutes and still nothing.

After half an hour finally her radio made a crackling noise then she heard Danny's voice, causing her to breathe a sigh of relief: "Vivian?"

"Where are you?"

"I don't know exactly. The son of a bitch must have known he was being followed. He led me a long way round the forest and finally I thought I lost him."

"What d'you mean you thought you lost him?"

"I think I found the place where he was going to; there's a house here – and it's not even small. He must keep the girls here. I guess he really knew we were following him and so he park the car on the road and took the way through the woods but there's got a driveway here, too – so probably you could also come here by car.

"Yes, I guess that was inevitable he noticed us", Vivian admitted. "Listen, I called Jack and he's sending us a few men for backup. And I'll call him again and hopefully he can get us a search warrant for that place – and find out where exactly it is… But I want you to stay where you are and do nothing until we're there."

"But…"

"No buts, Danny, we have to be careful, now, very careful. Just stay where you are and inform me, if something happens. Understood?"

There was no answer, and Vivian felt nervous again. "Danny? Did you understand me?"

Still no answer. Exasperated, Vivian almost shouted into the radio: "Danny? Do you hear me? Damn it, Danny, answer me!"

TBC