Chapter V: Ladies and Gentlemen, We Have Contact

"May I ask who's calling?"

"It doesn't work that way," he replied, his tone changing to a menacing growl. Therese instantly knew who she was dealing with—Kevin's abductor.

"Then how does it work?" she asked in the same tone.

"I'm the only who makes demands. Your husband's life hangs in the balance."

"Listen here, you bastard," she spat. "Cut to the chase and save everyone the trouble. I have something you want and it's not Kevin's life. Otherwise, you wouldn't have bothered to leave a note. What is it?"

The man laughed under his breath as if he was amused by her speech. "I didn't make this call to give you my demands. I wanted to remind you about not calling the police. I'll be in touch."

"No," she declared but the caller had already hung up. Therese slammed the receiver back onto the cradle and shouted "Damn!" at the top of her lungs. She whipped around, intent on doing something. What it was, she didn't know. She just had to be moving.

"Whoa, watch it," Jamie quietly said as she almost turned straight into him. "What did he say? Did you recognize his voice?"

Therese shook her head and answered, "It was distorted." She ran a hand through her wet hair before explaining the call. They both stood in the kitchen for a moment in silence and then Therese's head jerked up. She reached for the phone's base and pulled it towards her, peering at the LCD screen. She picked up the receiver and then dialed the number displayed. There was no answer. She tried again two more times but had the same result. For the second time, the phone was slammed down again. "Take this number and find out who it belongs to," she forcefully ordered.

Jamie started to stutter, "I-I-" The woman, almost half a foot taller than he, was scary when she was pissed.

"Call Aaron. He'll find out if you can't," she replied through tight lips and stalked off, needing to be another place right now.

Therese stalked downstairs to the in-law suite. She glanced around the main room that held an entertainment center, an airhockey table, and a pool table. She hadn't been down here in two weeks, not since Evan left for camp. He had spent so many years as a camper and now he was a counselor. He had called on the second night to tell her how impressed the kids were that he was going to UTC on a full scholarship. The teenager and Kevin wouldn't admit it but she knew there had been some "undue" influence there in getting him in—mainly Kevin's status. The university seemed to have overlooked the incident that led to a young Nash quitting the basketball team and then college.

Running a hand over the wooden edge of the pool table, she headed into Evan's room, wishing he was here to help her. Then again, she was glad that he was gone and didn't have to the worry about Kevin's abduction. Everything was in place there, so she checked their guestroom. Shawn and Stephanie stayed here every time they visited. It would need to be readied for Stephanie when she arrived.

His eyes finally came unglued but his vision swam. He heard a male voice say his wife's name and he tried to focus, remembering what had happened. He had heard the dog growling a couple of hours before dawn and what sounded like her pawing the kitchen's French doors to get out. Glancing over at Therese who was lightly snoring, he slid out of the bed to let Ruby out. Kevin knew his home forward and backward, even in the dark. He didn't bother turning on lights for fear of waking anyone up. As much as he loved his family, he just wanted a good night's sleep.

By the time he reached the kitchen, the growling had stopped after a sharp 'yip' and he noticed that the door was slightly ajar. He didn't have a clue how she made it out but he knew the alarm would eventually sound if he didn't close the door. Coming around the kitchen island, bright stars flashed behind his eyes and he staggered, falling against the countertop. A cloth of a sickeningly sweet smell was pressed to his face. He lashed out and caught his attacker in the face that was followed by a low grunt. Kevin turned around but cloying scent stuck in his nostrils and he felt himself sag to the floor as the other person caught him. He would have been proud of the dog he had chosen as a house-warming gift if he had known that she was attempting to crawl across the lawn to follow him despite the chest wound and broken bone inflicted by the abductor to stop the dog before she started.

By the time he heard the man say, "I'll be in touch," Kevin finally had his vision back, even though his head was pounding. He had tried to stand up against the cold wall that he was leaned up against but his wrists and ankles were bound. The man that had been speaking came into Nash's view and crouched down to where he was eye level with the wrestler.

"Just got off the phone with the little wife," he said with a smirk. When Kevin recognized the man, he began to seethe to the point of having no reply to the man's comment. "Cat got your tongue?"

"I let you into our home," he finally responded, "and this is what you give us in return? When I get hold of you—" Kevin abruptly stopped and then laughed. "When she gets hold of you, she will tear you from limb to limb…and I won't stop her."

His abductor laughed and patted Nash on the knee. He jerked away but the man sneered at him before walking away. Kevin heard the fading jingle of a cell phone that grated on his nerves as the phone's owner refused to answer it.

The plane landed at sunset and Therese, true to her word, was waiting at the baggage claim. The blonde was still pissed about Stephanie insinuating herself into her 'investigation.' She had too much to do without the younger woman being underfoot. She paced the carousel, attempting to get a handle on her feelings toward Stephanie, when the woman in question came into view. The anger immediately melted as the two embraced, both severely in need of consolation.

Stephanie wiped away tears that began to form and Therese took her by the shoulders. "You're here now. It's gonna be alright," she said and almost dissolved into tears herself.

"I thought this was all behind us," Stephanie said with wipe and a sniff.

"I know, we all did. Let's go home," she replied and blinked back more tears.

In the car on the interstate, the brunette watched the sun set over the skyline of Atlanta, completely silent. Therese was bitching at the traffic. If any of the four of them succumbed to road rage, she would be the one. She couldn't understand why it was so hard to pay attention and DRIVE! One drop of rain would make Atlanta drivers morons. This evening, according to her, they really had no excuse why they were morons.

"I think it's Bischoff," Stephanie abruptly announced.

"Put down the cell phone, you mor—what?" she yelled but stopped mid-curse.

"I've got it figured out. Eric Bischoff got out of jail three months ago, plenty of time for him to plot to get us back."

"Then why not get us?"

"Because he can't exactly do that," Stephanie replied in a tone that said, 'Don't you know.'

"Where is this coming from?"

"All of us have restraining orders against him but our husbands."

"Yeah, but kidnapping is a federal offense, restraining order or not," Therese replied, glancing over at Steph and then back at the road.

"He's an idiot," the brunette responded condescendingly. "He's not thinking like that."

"Trust me, I'm not ruling him out but we need to be thinking about who we pissed off."

"Or who Kevin and Shawn pissed off," Stephanie muttered.

"And who exactly is that not?" the blonde replied with a small laugh.

"I know, it's just like my situation was."

Therese sighed and shook her head, choosing to focus on what would happen when they got back to her house instead of the incapable idiots who were slowing down to gawk at a wreck on the side of the road. Pendleton knew about the situation and Therese talked him into having an overhaul done to Stephanie's security system while she was away. Her gate was opened by remote only and the abductor had found the frequency. Her house had at least three different systems to cover the different parts of the large home. The one was scrambled as only it was needed to get the job done but the other two worked the same way. To be on the safe side, new systems were being installed during what was hoped to be a short absence. For now, Aaron should have the results to whom the phone number belonged that the abductor had used. Hopefully, it would belong to the culprit himself.

Stephanie's cellphone rang and she pulled it out of her purse. They both glanced at the callerID. The number had the same area code as Therese's call from earlier. Stephanie could feel something was wrong and glanced up at her friend on the second ring.

"Don't answer it yet," she ordered, laying on the horn and whipping over one lane. Gesturing rudely at another driver, she jerked the vehicle into the next lane and squealed onto the shoulder of the exit.

"You're gonna get us killed," Stephanie yelled right before the car came to a stop.

"Atlanta traffic doesn't stand a chance against a New Yorker. Just answer the phone."

"Hello," she tentatively said, leaning over to where Therese could hear the call.

"Hello there, princess," a distorted male voice said mockingly. Stephanie physically bristled at the endearment. Only Shawn was allowed to call her that.

"What do you want?"

"How much are you offering?" he asked lewdly. The brunette made a disgusted noise in the back of her throat and the man laughed. "You've not called the police have you?"

"No, I can read."

"You didn't wait to be contacted, so I don't know about that."

"What exactly does that mean?" she snapped.

"I called your home phone and you didn't answer," he answered nonchalantly.

"The note didn't say which phone."

He chuckled, more to himself than to her, and then replied, "Touché."

"Can we cut to the chase?"

"That is the chase, just a check-in. Sit tight, doll, and I'll let you know exactly what I want."

"So, I'm just supposed to just suffer in silence—" Stephanie stopped, realizing the caller had hung up immediately after his last sentence.

"Call the number back," Therese ordered.

"What?"

"Call the number back now and see if he answers," the blonde instructed.

"And then what?"

"Just do it or give me the phone." Stephanie made that same disgusted noise in her throat and dialed the number. It rang until it cut itself off. "Do it again," Therese continued to order and Stephanie didn't argue, hitting redial. When the same thing happened, she automatically did it again.

On the fourth try, an automated voice immediately came on. "The wireless customer you are trying to reach is not available."

"He's turned the phone off," Therese muttered and pulled on to the exit to find a way back to the Interstate.

Stephanie reached for the bottle of water in her travel bag and tried to twist the cap off but her fingers were shaking too badly. She exasperatedly ran a hand through her hair and then took several deep breaths to try again. Finally, she was able to get the cap off to gulp water down her dry throat. Glancing over at Therese who obviously in deep thought as she chewed the corner of her mouth, Stephanie wished she had that much control over herself as all the terrible scenarios of this situation played itself out in her mind.

TBC…

Author's Notes: As to Steph playing hockey, I thought her using that as a cover-up for creeping around her house with a hockey stick would be beautiful irony when it showed up on a less than reputable newsboard. I just find it hilarious that one of those workers would actually believe her and then report to someone (who believed it as well)for it to be posted on the Net. And we all know it happens often.