The next few minutes were a blur. Dawn could never remember the details of the 9-1-1 call she placed, only that the calm, reassuring tones of the operator did nothing to ease the tight knot of pain in her stomach. Her mind whirred like an overheated processor. There so much to be done and she could do nothing. She was vaguely aware of her mom brewing herbal tea in the kitchen, her weeping finally starting to subside. Dawn woodenly began gathering the archived footage from the security cameras. The police would want to see it all when they arrived.
On one of the monitors, she watched the scene play out, just as her mother had described. Who are these people? she thought. And what do they want?
The doorbell rang, startling her. When she answered the door, she was even more surprised to see Mari.
"Hey, Dawn. You left your pencils at my house," the jet-tressed girl told her, holding up the box of Dawn's good drawing pencils.
"Oh." Dawn took them from her mechanically. The sudden intrusion of normal life on the strange, frightening reality inside momentarily stunned her.
Mari peered at her closely. "You okay, Dawn?"
Dawn started to respond, but Mari's older brother, Akira broke in. In a bored voice he asked, "You ready to go yet, Mari? By the way, Dawn, since when did you guys trade in real guards for those dummies?"
"Don't mind him." Mari said, rolling her eyes. "He's just mad because Dad made him drive me here." Akira had gotten his license just two months ago and liked to lord it over his younger sister. "Anyway," Mari continued, glaring at her brother. "There's no reason to insult people you don't even know."
Akira looked at her in confusion for a second. Then comprehension dawned on him. "Oh! No, I mean dummies, real dummies. Since when have you used dummies instead of real guards? I mean, seriously, you guys own half of Domino, you could shell out a couple of paychecks, y'know?"
"What! The security guards are dummies?" She shook her head in disbelief. "Well, that explains that at least," she said in a weary voice. She wondered where they would find the real security guards…kidnapped? drugged somewhere?...or dead?
"That explains what?" Mari asked. "Dawn, what's going on?"
Dawn sighed. "Why don't you come inside? You too, Akira, if you want."
Once inside, Dawn explained what had happened. "Everyone's gone," she said. "And my dad…" her voice quivered and she couldn't go on. "I don't really know what to do now."
"Oh, Dawn. I'm so sorry." Mari said, concern and empathy written on her face. "What can we do to help you?"
"I don't really know if there is anything you can do, but you're helping already just by being here. I'm really freaked out right now."
"Has anyone called the police?" Akira demanded. "I would have thought they'd be swarming over the place by now."
"Mom was in shock," Dawn said. "I called when I came home, but even for the Kaibas, some things take a little time."
"Where is everyone?" Mari said suddenly. "The staff, I mean."
Dawn shook her head. "Mom says she came home from the store and everyone was gone…right before she was attacked."
"The security guards were replaced with dummies as well,." mused Akira. "An inside job, then. Everything stinks of it."
"That's impossible. One or two people wouldn't be able to overpower the entire staff—
especially the security guards."
"But what if they were plotting together. All of them."
Dawn folded her arms. "Akira, you're talking about people who I've known my entire life. They wouldn't just turn on us like that. I know, okay?"
Just then Dawn's mom came out from the kitchen, carrying a saucer with a cup of herbal tea on it. "Your uncle is on his way here right now." Her eyes were red, and Dawn could tell she had been crying. Then she noticed Mari and Akira. "Oh. Um, this isn't a good time for visitors, I'm afraid."
"It's okay, Mrs. Kaiba." Mari said. "Dawn told us what happened. I'm so sorry."
"Yeah, and we're just here to help. Don't worry about entertaining us or anything." Akira added. "Dawn, you said you had the security camera footage on your computer. Do you think I could take a look at it?"
"Sure, I guess." Dawn said, leading them up to her study, where the computer was.
"I was looking at it when you arrived." She said, as they walked into the room. "I'm not sure there's anything there to find. All the men were wearing masks."
"If there's anything to find Akira will find it." Mari said confidently. "He's a whiz when it comes to computers."
"Well, you can try." Dawn said skeptically. She seriously doubted he would be able to find something she hadn't. After all, she had been working with computers since she was a small child.
Mari and Dawn stood watching him for a few minutes, then headed back downstairs.
"Maybe I should go outside and check out those security guard dummies." Dawn said.
Just then her mother walked back in from the living room. "Dawn, could you help me with dinner since we're going to have several extra people?
Mari glanced at her friend. "Why don't I help you instead, Mrs. Kaiba? I like cooking."
"All right." She agreed. She seemed calmer now to Dawn, probably from focusing on the simple tasks to be done. She had always been like that, practical above all else.
"Great." Dawn said. "I'm going to be outside on the property, Mom."
"Be careful, Dawn." She warned. "Watch out for strangers and don't be long."
"Okay." Dawn agreed, walking out the door.
Once outside, Dawn got back on her scooter and rode over to where the guards were. Now that she saw them closer, Dawn couldn't believe she hadn't noticed they weren't real. They were basically crash dummies, dressed in Kaiba Corp. security guard uniforms. Wigs had been added under the caps of some of them and eyes and other features had been added.
"They counted on our complacency." Dawn said with a disgusted air. And it was true. They had taken the safety of their security system for granted. And now it was painfully evident how weak it really was.
She carefully examined the dummies, but aside from the painted features, they bore no identifying marks. Neither did the wigs when she examined them next. She inspected the uniforms. Someone had cut the serial numbers off of all of them. Crap. "They're thorough, whoever they are."
She knelt on the ground in defeat as she contemplated what to do next. They had been careful not to leave anything that could be traced back to them. Dawn desperately wished her dad was here to handle things. Of course if her dad was here, there wouldn't be much of a problem anyway. It wasn't like they had lost much else, in fact it didn't seem like anything was missing. But that didn't make sense. Why would someone break into their house for the sole purpose of kidnapping Seto Kaiba? Someone with a grudge—and Dawn knew there were many such people—would have simply killed him, not taken him to kill later. Someone out to make money would have plundered the house. It didn't add up. Surely something had to be missing.
Dawn got to her feet. They had to scrutinize the house to know for sure if anything had been taken and what. If they could figure out what the intruders were after, it might shed light on who they were.
Dawn turned at the sound of a car coming up the road. Dawn tensed with her first instinct; the intruders had returned. But after a second glance, she relaxed. She recognized the blue sports cars and she knew who drove it.
