YOU'RE WHAT!

Disclaimer: The Cullen's, the Swans, and most of the characters mentioned in the story that are known from Stephanie Meyer's beloved Twilight Saga, are all hers and hers alone. I neither have nor wish to pass them off as mine. I do appreciate the fact that she did bring them to life and allows us to play with them in our imaginations. The only thing I will claim is the current storyline.

The awesome and talented dowlingnana searched out my errors and corrected them.

Charles Swan was now going to get his daughter and anyone getting in his way would have hell to pay. He would make sure the ones that took her paid, also.

CHAPTER 22: MAN ON A MISSION

Charlie decided that the outside of the restaurant where Bella had been taken would be his starting point. He moved in the last direction that the car had been seen going and continued to follow the route as had been captured from the various street cameras until there were no further indicators of where it had gone. But, he didn't need any further prove of where he needed to go next; he knew that the direction the car had headed was leading directly to the seedier side of town.

And, with that being the case Charlie knew that he needed to make a change in his appearance. Seeing a secondhand clothing store, he went inside to make a few purchases and once he came out he no longer appeared to be the same man that had entered a short while before. Charlie Swan had changed his attire as well as the way he carried himself; he was now blending in with the rest of the inhabitants of this section of the city. By doing this exchange of persona Charlie could more easily seek out the one person he needed to speak with without drawing attention to himself or the man he sought.

Hubert "Butch" Monroe was an undercover cop that was on the 'inside' of the kingpins of this area. He knew what was going on and who was involved. But, Charlie wasn't interested in all of that, right now, all he wanted to know was who had been responsible for the kidnapping of a woman from a certain restaurant in the more upper end of the city. And, Charlie was sure that Butch would tell him, or, -, and no one wanted to think about the 'or' part of that possibility. Charlie was determined to get the information he needed to retrieve his little girl by whatever means was necessary. Nothing or anyone was going to stand in his way; old friend or not, undercover cop or not. Charlies Swan would do what he had to do to get his only child home safe and sound, or, otherwise. And, whoever took her had better pray they hadn't pushed things to the point of her coming home in the 'otherwise' condition.

For a moment or two Charlie wondered how he was going to be able to find Butch and considered asking around, but, decided fairly quickly not to go down that road. By doing so could call attention to himself and to Butch. That could endanger the both of them and cause Butch's cover to be blown. That would get both of them killed. Then what help would he be to getting to Bella?

Deciding to just mosey around the area, halting here and there, for appearance sake as he stayed on the lookout for Butch. He wasn't having much luck with trying to blend in and it was causing him to become frustrated at his lack of finding the man he sought when suddenly he was slammed into an alleyway wall after being grabbed from behind and was unexpectedly tossed into the alley.

"I thought it was you. What the hell are you doing wandering around here looking like that when you're supposed to be home in Forks, Washington?" Charlie head a familiar voice that sounded both slightly angered and amused all at the same time.

Shaking his head to try to clear the buzzing that seemed to have taken up residence in his head due to the sudden jolt against the alley wall, Charlie looked up to barely recognize the one man that he had been slowly, but, methodically, seeking was standing before him dressed in dirty clothing, with an unshaven face, greasy looking hair and smelling of several days without a bath. Charlie laughed as quietly as he could as he did recognize Butch and was wondering at the same time why he was dressed the way he was when he was higher up in the organized criminal element.

"Well, a hello to you as well." Charlie replied back to the weird looking individual standing before him. "Why in the hell are you dressed like this? Usually, you're a lot neater looking."

"To be honest, my old friend, I received a surprise as I was hanging out in the doorway of a shop across the street from a clothing store. I saw what I thought was a ghost enter the store, but, came out as a totally different man. I wasn't sure when you first went in that I was seeing correctly, but, when you came out I had to do more than a double take to recognize the same man that had gone in. Your disguise was that good. But, just to make sure I followed to see if I could figure out what you might be up to.

"However, no such luck, other than watching you slyly glance around every so often as if you were looking for something or someone, I decided that it was time to take the bull by the horns and confront you.

"Want to tell me what's going on?"

"You're right about me looking for someone and that was you. My daughter has been kidnapped and I was hoping you might be able to give me some information as to who it was and where I could start looking for them."

"Your daughter? Damn, Charlie, what would she have done to draw that sort of attention?" And, with that question asked Charlie began walking further back into the alley with Butch keeping stride with him as they talked.

Charlie told his old friend about Bella and about her being a highly-specialized FBI agent that handled witness protection duties. Then he continued to talk about her current assignment and ended with the moment of her kidnapping. That was when he explained to Butch how he had managed to get to the district that he was currently in and decided that his old friend would probably be able to give him some information. "However, I decided that it would be better to change clothing to be able to blend in more with the crowd that was inhabiting the current area. I didn't want to take a chance of drawing attention to myself or you.

"Now, I have to ask if you can give me any information concerning the kidnapping of a woman from a restaurant located in the upper end of town? Please, Butch, anything that you can tell me could help to bring my girl back." Charlie had managed to maintain control of his voice almost until the end, but, his request for help to his old friend came out more as a plea. It carried so much untold pain and fear in it.

Butch Monroe remained silent as he considered all that his old friend had just relayed to him. He knew how intense and dangerous Charlie Swan could be when he was on a mission, and, this mission was one of the greatest that Charlie had ever undertaken. He was taking the time to decide how much he could or couldn't tell Charlie without endangering his assignment, but, in the long run he decided that if it was a member of his family he would want as much information he could get to insure he could bring that person home. So, without any further hesitation, he told Charlie everything he knew.

"Charlie, the woman was taken by mistake; they were after any of the three men that were with her. They're known to be witnesses that happened upon an elimination incident, saw the whole thing, it is thought, and then reported it after a time.

"The problem though is that no one is sure of what the three witnesses know and don't know. They have tried every way imagined to gain that information without giving away too much, but, it's been to no avail. So, they were desperate enough to try to kidnap one of the witnesses to question them.

"These men and their girlfriends all seem to hang together, so, whichever one they could grab was going to be the target. But, as happened, the individuals that had been assigned to get one of the witnesses botched it. As they made a grab for the first man in front, his girlfriend got in the way and they took her instead. Once they had her it was decided to make her talk about what her boyfriend had told her about the whole event from that night." Butch had stopped speaking after explaining what he knew, or, at least, Charlie assumed that that was all his friend knew, but, he was wrong.

After a few moments of silence between the two men, Butch started talking once more. "Charlie, I haven't been to see the woman, or, as you tell me, your daughter, but, I've been kept informed by the people I'm working to bring down that she endured a bit of softening up as a means to impress upon her how serious they were to get the information she might possess.

"So, I'm warning you now to be prepared for what you might find once you do get to her. And, before you ask, no, I haven't seen her as I just told you, and I haven't been to where they have her located, although, I do know the address.

"The last time I heard a report was that she was unconscious and the team assigned this task has been told to allow her time to come around and then to start questioning her intensely."

Once Butch had finished speaking he looked at his old friend and watched as Charlie had closed his eyes before running his hand down his face several times. But, Charlie said not a word as he felt the pain and fear of what condition Bella might be in washed over and through him. And, Butch watched as his friend's shoulders sagged as if carrying a heavy burden, but, it wasn't long before he saw the shifting of Charlie's shoulders lifting, flexing and straightening as he gained control of his emotions once more to become the strong, determined man that Butch knew.

Charlie turned to Butch and thanked his friend for being honest with him and for supplying the necessary information he needed. Then without another word he turned and left Butch standing alone in the alley as he began to make his way to the address that he had been given.

He would send each and every person to hell that had anything to do with taking his daughter or in bringing harm and pain to her.

Charlie was realistic enough to accept that the job Bella did carried risks and the possibility of death. It wasn't something that he was happy about, but, it was the reality of the life that Bella had chosen. But, regardless of all of those facts, he was still a father and a father's duty was to keep his child safe when possible.

XXXXXX

Several times Bella almost lost her battle of wills to maintain control to help keep the pain at bay. But, just as quickly she exerted herself to gain that control once more. It only happened at the times that she tried to relax and rest just for a bit by dozing off, but, she jerked completely back to attention as she was reminded of where she was and the position she was in all thanks to the painful reminder.

Night was falling and Bella had been correct in her assumption that no one would be looking to find her hidden behind dumpsters full of trash and rotting food. Ever since the alarm had be given about her missing she watched all the coming and going of the men as they frantically searched. The smell of their fear reached Bella's position with no problems, if you can say that fear carries a certain odor.

She was aware that they had found their companion by now and were wondering how she was even able to escape let alone overpower someone in her condition. But, at the same time she was also aware that these men had some answering to do to some higher ups. They kept going between the back door and the front of the alleyway looking forwards, right and then left as if they might be able to spot her form in the distance. And, the whole time Bella stayed still so she didn't give away her position.

Finally, all that could be done was to send everyone except a couple of guys, out to scour the streets and alleys to locate their missing hostage. However, no one was paying any attention to the raggedly looking old man hunched down in a corner of an abandoned building doorway acting as if he wasn't interested in a damn thing in this world or the next.

Of course, the old man was out of Bella's eye sight, so, she was unaware that he was there. So, that as all of the activity slow died down from everyone trying so hard to locate Bella and failing, a slow-moving shadow crept along the wall of the alley not doing anything to draw attention to itself. But, some sound or small movement suddenly alerted Bella to something or someone entering the alley and moving towards the back of it.

She continued to watch, but, never moving to give away her location as she saw the form take the shape of a man that was moving towards the door that she had exited earlier in the day and that had had frantic men rushing in and out of it all afternoon and evening. And, once the activity from her capturers had died down with no results, she did wonder what they were doing then.

She had been aware that the ones that had been sent out to try to find her had returned and then they all had left in one van while the two that had originally stayed behind and stood guard were still in the hideout.

Bella had been lost for a bit in her thoughts so she never noticed the man finally reach the door and was opening it to enter. She heard the soft click as it closed and then all hell broke loose as she heard shouting followed by gunfire. How many guns was hard to tell since the firing from everyone seemed to be all at the same time.

It seemed as if in no time, but, then Bella had no way of telling how much time had lapsed since the man had entered the hideout, before he was exiting it again. He paused and looked away as if seeking something, but, shook his head as he reached behind himself to close the door. It was in that moment that the light shone very clear onto the man and Bella finally knew who it was. And, it shocked the hell out of her!

AN: Who was creeping down the alley? Who survived the gunfire? Who did Bella recognize? And, will Charlie get there in time?

Hope you will enjoy this story and will let me know your thoughts, ideas and comments as we move forwards