Chapter 14

Stan was sitting at his desk, wondering what was going to happen to his unit. Everything seemed to be falling apart since Mary and Marshall went into the program themselves. Both of the Marshals he had received to (hopefully) temporarily replace them were both new to the job. The only thing holding them together was Eleanor, God bless her.

Just as he was getting ready to leave his phone rang. Picking it up, he answered, "Stan."

Hearing who it was and that Mary was in trouble almost made him drop it.

"What the hell happened?" he practically yelled at his Marshal.

Marshall explained everything. And twenty minutes later, Stan went to work, keeping Marshall on the line.

"You want locations of all warehouses and storage facilities? What if she is in a house?"

"I don't think she is. The license plate was from California. I'm thinking he came here just to get Mary and/or Cheri."

"I hope you are right," Stan said with a sigh as he waited for the information to appear on the computer screen.

"Alright," he started, "there are three locations of storage facilities within twenty minutes of your location. Do you think that's far enough? There are also two warehouses."

"It is for now. If she isn't within twenty miles, which she better be, I will call you back."

"I'll do you one better. I'm coming down; tonight. Marshall, why didn't you call your Marshals?"

"I did. Both of them three times, there was no answer. I didn't want to have to go to the station and look, when I could be helping Mary and Cheri, so I figured they would call when they could. And just so you know, I'm not waiting for you to get here."

"Marshall, you need to. You can't go by yourself."

"Oh yes I can. Watch me," he told his former boss.

Hearing the determination, Stan knew there was no way to talk him out of it. "Alright, but you be careful. If you get yourself killed, Mary will only kill you again. She needs you. Leave your phone on. I will call you when I get there. I'll bring a few people with me."

"I'll be careful, and I'll see you soon." Marshall wrote down the location of the places where he hoped he would find Mary as Stan told him. He said thanks and then hung up.

Taking off to the first place on his list, he hoped he would find her soon. If she died, he wouldn't be able to go on.

"Has anyone been here in the last few hours?" Marshall asked the man that was working at the first storage facility.

"Nah not that I know of, but there are other workers here and I just arrived. Why do you want to know?" the man asked somewhat suspicious.

"I'm Marshal Marshall Mann. I need to know."

"Where's your badge?"

"You listen to me. My partner and a young girl have been kidnapped. I believe the son of a bitch could be keeping them here. You need to tell me now if someone has been here, God damn it."

"Whoa, hold on a moment. I'll check," he told Marshall as he held up his hands as if he surrenders.

"Quickly please," Marshall added quickly and as nice as he could manage, though it came out stressed.

"Uh, let me see. No one has signed in on the log. I'd say probably not. It's pretty hard to sneak by in a car without someone knowing."

"Alright thanks. If a man comes by with dark hair, about my height, give me a call, will ya? Here is my number."

"Alright I will. Good luck, man. I hope you find 'um in time."

"Yeah me too," Marshall called over his shoulder as he got back in his car.

A few hours later Stan and a few others arrived at the Minneapolis Airport in Minnesota. They quickly rented a vehicle and Stan called Marshall.

"Stan, I have checked two of the storage facilities and one warehouse. I can't find her!"

"It's alright, Marshall. You will find her. Where are you?"

"On my way to the storage place in Medina. It's about thirty minutes from the where you are. Twenty-five if you speed."

"We'll meet you there in twenty."

Mary heard Cheri's stomach growl. She guessed they had been their for five hours or so, though it seemed much longer. Cheri had quickly fallen asleep again after Mary had finished telling her she was a Marshal, and had just woken up. Mary had slowly crawled to the door while Cheri slept, but, like she figured it was locked from the outside. She tried banging her back again the wall to make some noise, but after about twenty minutes, she figured it was no use, for the moment anyways.

They were now each leaning against each other, so their backs were against the other's. Mary was trying to unwrap the ducked tape from around Cheri's hand, but was having trouble. She was slowly loosening it. She heard a car coming closer and she frantically tried to finish. Not getting much closer, she quit just in time to hear a car door close.

"Get behind me," Mary whispered softly. "Don't worry. I won't let them hurt you."

"Don't make me a promise you can't keep. I'll be alright, though. Thanks," Cheri whispered back. The door opened and three men walked in. Mary recognized the driver right away.

"Dad?" Cheri yelled.

"Hello Princess," he said in an unpleasant way. The grin on his face made her want to throw up.

"Can I have my money now?" he asked. "I led you right to them."

"Yep, it's in the car, in the trunk. Go get it and get out of here before I decide to kill you too," the unknown man said. "Mary, it's so good to finally meet you. Too bad you have to die. You really are quite lovely."

"Don't you talk to me like that scumbag," Mary bit back.

"Oh, there's that fierceness I have heard so much about."

He stepped closer to Mary so she took the opportunity to spit at him. He smacked her across the face and Cheri flinched.

"I suggest you do not do that again. If you do, I'll kill you both right then."

"Well then I guess your ass would be screwed. You wouldn't get what you want," she said with a fake smile.

"Oh yes, I think I would. In case you forgot, I can always go after Marshall. When he hears you are dead, I'm quite sure he would do anything to die as well. As soon as he told me what I needed, I would help him end his misery and I would have what I want."

"Don't involve him," she said, mad now.

"He is already involved. He has been since I captured him. He is quite clever, calling Stan. But he won't be a problem anymore. Neither he nor that new girl he loved."

"You son of a bitch! How could you? They are not even here!" Mary said almost breaking down. Almost. She leaned back against the wall and thought back to all the times Stan had been there for her. He was like the father she never got to have. Now, he was gone. It couldn't be could it? She thought to herself. And Eleanor, even though they didn't always get along… they were still there for each other.

"You see, that is where you are wrong. Your dear Marshall called them to help him save you, and they all came running. That's when I got them. All of them, the new ones too. They didn't stand a chance, those rookies. Peter, I think we will have no more use for Marshal Mann. Do what you want with him."

"NOO!" she yelled. As she heard the three gun shots fire simultaneously she let the tears fall.

"Now I want you to call a WITSEC office and find the location of this man. Now," the man told her as he threw her a phone and the man of a name. "And don't be stupid, I can still kill the girl."

She called the office and got the location of one Jeffre Benzalo. She told the man, not the address the lady told her, but instead a different one she made up.

"324 on Third Street," she informed the men as she faked defeat.

"Thank you. And I do hope you're not lying. I do hate liars."

"I have nothing left. Why would I lie?" she said softly.

"Good," he grinned.

Walking over to Mary and bending down to look her in the eyes. And just so you don't get any wild ideas…" he said as he put a strong smelling cloth over her nose and mouth. She fought but it was no good. As unconsciousness fell upon her, her last thought was of how she hoped Marshall forgave her. The last thing she saw was Peter covering Cheri's mouth and nose with the same thing.

Her world went black.