Chapter VII: Lack of Presence

Stephanie and Therese picked up the girls from Sharon's and Joe's to relieve them of the dustdevil-in-training and her baby sister. With Aunt 'Stephie''s presence, Ruby and her father was far from Dinah's mind. When it was time for her nap, her "aunt" quickly agreed to take one with her. With two down, Therese spent the afternoon watching Lilly while away the time obsessed with her toys in her playpen. It was enough for the agent to sort through everything in their filing cabinets in hopes of finding some hint that would help. When Sleeping Beauty One and Two rose, Therese traded off a napping Lilly to take one of her own. She had gotten so little sleep the night before that she couldn't hold her eyes open any longer.

Therese was in the middle of a dream she wouldn't share with anyone but Kevin when a little whirlwind pounced on her bed. "Momma! I'm hungry!"

Stephanie was right behind her. "Sorry, I was trying to keep her occupied 'til you woke up," she apologized.

"That's alright," the blonde yawned and stretched, pulling her daughter to her. "Momma's tired. Do you wanna order pizza tonight?" McDonald's had worked for Evan, pizza worked for Dinah. God's knows what would end up placating Lily—probably an entire buffet at Shoney's.

"I'll call it in," Stephanie offered and left but Dinah stayed snuggled up to her mother. The Executive Vice President was pained to see such a picture and longed even more for a family of her own. It had been so easy to pretend Lily was hers as she watched over her earlier in the evening.

After placing the order, Stephanie rifled through her purse to retrieve her credit card. She pulled out her PalmPilot to check the balance but a reminder popped up. It was regarding Shawn's flight out tonight for RAW. She would have to cancel it, which then led her to realize that he and Kevin would be missed at the show tomorrow night. "Um, Therese, I think we have a problem."

"Oh, god, what?" Therese gasped, racing from the living room.

"No, no, no, it's not like that. The guys are gonna be missed at RAW tomorrow. You got any plans?"

"Hmmm…"

"They've got the flu," Stephanie piped up.

"In July?"

"You've never been sick in the summer?"

"I don't get sick," the blonde replied with a confused look.

"I've been sick in the summer and you feel much worse than in the winter."

"They can have the stomach flu or something—they got it from each other."

"Stomach flu lasts about two days. If we don't find them by then…" Stephanie trailed off but then shook her head and continued. "We'll have to come up with another excuse. Flu can last as long as ten days or more sometimes and then it can develop into pneumonia or bronchitis. We'll be able to keep them covered," she excitedly finished, as if making her husband sick was the coolest thing in the world.

"Please don't let it take that long," Therese whispered a prayer.

"Besides," the brunette added, "I'm in charge. If I choose to give them vacation, I'll do it and suspend anyone who questions me."

"But that's not like you."

"Wait,don't they have some important match next week at Vengeance with Triple H?" the blonde suddenly asked, feeling guilty for not keeping up with what exactly was going on in wrestling. Besides, Kevin had been a little tight-lipped about what was going since she had been sent into early labor months ago and she hadn't watched RAW without Evan at home.

"We'll get them back before then…I hope."

"Me too," Therese replied under her breath. "Well, I guess we shouldn't call them both in at the same time."

"I'm not afraid of Hunter. I'll call him tomorrow and deal with him but, right now, I severely doubt he'll be answering his phone. Call and leave a message because you know what he'll have to say about Kevin being out."

"Any you think I'm afraid of Hunter?" Therese scoffed. "I've been itching to get my hands on him."

"I've heard you give him a piece of your mind before but, right now, you don't need his crap," Stephanie replied, the tone in her voice apologetic for her ex-husband's behavior.

"But it'll be a good to blow off steam," she laughed in reply and cracked her knuckles. "If I get through to him, I will, and, if I don't, I'll settle for a nice message." She found her cellphone and started to dial when the 'The Imperial March' began to play from the phone. When Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith came out, Evan was going through a rebellious period and, one day out of frustration, Therese declared him Darth Evil and it seemed to stick. Jokingly, she programmed the march as his ringtone.

"Hey, baby! How's it going?"

"Was I this bad when I was kid?" Evan whined.

"You've asked that every year the past four years."

"Yeah, but, one of these years, I hope you'll tell me 'no,'" he sighed with frustration.

"Don't count on it."

"Kevin around?"

"No, he's already gone on to Baltimore," she replied smoothly.

"Oh, okay," Evan responded, obviously let down. Despite their 'in-law' status, the two might as well have been father and son. "Well, I won't bother him."

"Yeah, he's going through a lot with Hunter," she half-lied. He had been going through a lot of the general manager but it was currently happening at the moment.

"I didn't know that."

"Yeah, he's been able to keep it off television. I may go on the road with him just to keep his blood pressure down," she explained, hoping the fabrication would keep his suspicions down

"Okay, well," he dejectedly replied. "I won't bother you again until next Sunday then."

"Babe, you can call me any time you need me. So, honestly, how's it really going?" Evan talked a little bit about the kids in his group and the ones in his room—he had an unusually bad group this year—before he asked to talk to Dinah and the call ended. Her little brother could be smart when he wasn't acting like a teenager and she was proud of herself for getting through the conversation without giving anything away. She hated the deception but Evan would probably insist on quitting camp to help and there was nothing he could do. Even if he did stay after learning the truth, he would worry about the man who had become sort of a surrogate father to him.

The next major obstacle for them to overcome arrived Monday morning. To keep appearances up and suspicions from growing worse, Therese chose to go in to work. She had no idea how much time she would need to take off when the right contact was made, so she couldn't miss work now. Beyond Jamie, no one else knew of the predicament and it needed to stay that way. Another extended vacation would not jive with her fellow employees. Plus, she would have greater access to more databases at work. Stephanie agreed to take the girls before Therese could even think of asking her. She could tell the other woman desperately needed something to do to take her mind of their situation.

Pendleton's company frowned upon the use of term 'bodyguard' because their agents did more than just guard a body. They kept all that was around their protectee secure. The job was not simply being a large, buff guy looming over a person. Pendleton had instilled in Therese the importance of the physical and the intellectual aspects and values of the position. She taught the same to her trainees. Target practice and physical conditioning were also a part of her job description. This morning, she was timing them on the obstacle course in the back lot of the center. The agent would have preferred for the day to involve target practice because she was itching to put a bullet hole in something. After lunch, the group was turned over for a classroom session. The 'boot camp' lasted twelve weeks and this set of recruits were only halfway through.

Therese spent the afternoon faking the writing of reports for the morning's training session, even though she was usually at home with her babies at this point. The job was really only part-time. Physical and weapon training in the morning with the occasional class interspersed was her general work week. She was searching secure databases for any more information on John Smith, the phone numbers, and Berry Hill, Tennessee. Still nothing. John Smith was Hannibal's supposed real name on the series 'The A-Team' but she wasn't finding any connections between the show and the abduction. The chosen cell numbers seemed to have no significance. She then began a query on Nashville, Tennessee—the next closest town. There was so much general information on Nashville that she gave up and decided to work on that at home. For now, she needed specifics—especially on what had been going on in the life of Dylan Bergeron since she last saw him from the other side of gun's barrel.

Dylan was the ijit responsible for getting a bullet put through her on a detail that he let get out of hand. The shot had broken her arm, tearing through the bone, but that was thankfully the worst of it. Bergeron had been fired and she never bothered to find out anything else about him until about three months ago when he reapplied to Pendleton's firm. Therese flat out refused but Aaron had agreed to rehire him only if he went through training again. He impressed upon Therese to forgive and forget, especially because it had been eight years since the incident. When she muttered a trite 'you're forgiven,' Aaron strongly hinted that she should invite him over for dinner to show her forgiveness. The meal was probably the most tense one she had ever spent but it was finally over. Sensing how uncomfortable the two agents were, Kevin did his best to smooth it over by showing the guy around their home and playing a short game on one-on-one basketball with Evan as the severely biased referee. Dylan was now training under her but they said as little as possible to each other despite Kevin's mitigating attempts.

Bergeron was intelligent as well as physically capable of the job. That was not to mention that he was an extremely handsome man. Tall, dark, and sexy with a wrestler's body. Of course, she wouldn't have classified him as that until after her WWE assignment. He and Therese had dated a couple of times but she ended it quickly when he had said a few disparaging remarks about Evan. Dylan then gave her the cold shoulder and, not long after, she was on the same assignment as he and she ended up with a bullet wound while he went physically unscathed. The investigation turned up no malicious intent on Dylan's part. The situation had gone beyond his control and Therese couldn't right it. The protestors broke through and, the next thing she knew, she was waking up in the hospital with an incredible pain in her upper arm.

Dylan's lack of attendance on Friday and today prompted this query. He hadn't called in before the weekend but she didn't know this because she had taken a personal day to be with Kevin since there were no house shows for the weekend. When she inquired of the administrative assistant about any calls from him, she immediately jumped to conclusions when she learned he hadn't called. Bergeron was in on the abduction and she said as much to Jamie right after lunch. The director then produced a message from Sonya, the assistant, saying he was absent because he had taken to bed with a cold and had called in shortly after Therese had asked Sonya. Jamie chastised Therese for maligning his character and she stalked off to her office, not entirely sure that Bergeron was indeed uninvolved. Now that he was back in her life, he could easily be exacting revenge for her technically getting him fired from such a prestigious job.

The most she had turned up on the ex-agent was how he had spent eight years in odd security jobs. He was first a mall security guard for a couple of years in Sacramento, California, before moving to Anaheim, California, for a few years as a limo driver. The next two years were spent working in a poor quality bodyguard service in Chattanooga, Tennessee, only two hours from the Nashes' home. Tennessee caught her attention as Chattanooga and Nashville were not that far apart. But what really threw her for a loop was his next city of residence—Seattle, Washington, the past and current domicile of Eric Bischoff. Bergeron was there for almost a year, working in another security firm that was less reputable, before moving to Atlanta, Georgia. Tennessee, Seattle, and Atlanta all in a row didn't sit well with her. A further investigation revealed that he had a sister in Sacramento, whom he had moved with to Anaheim. His Tennessee address was shared by a woman that she could find no familial relationship for him. Assuming the woman was now an ex-girlfriend, Therese made a note to call her under the pretense of checking Dylan's references. Seattle was still questionable. He enrolled in some criminal classes in a university there but, otherwise, she couldn't find a rationale for him being there.

While she simply wanted to security agent, she had picked up on many skills working for Pendleton that would make her a good investigator and that included interrogation of sources. She was good at poker simply because she could bluff well and she was quick to jump to conclusions, making it easier for her to anticipate her next set of questions. If Dylan came in tomorrow, they would have a 'conversation.' If he didn't, connections and favors would be called in and the manhunt would begin.

Therese checked her watch and realized that Stephanie would be there at any moment. The VP dropped her off at work and took the girls with her, their mother assumed to the park or the mall. The agent began packing up her work, erasing her searches and history in the computer. The company had excellent computer security as well. Putting a few files in her briefcase to take home, she sensed the presence in the doorway and looked up to find the beautiful brunette watching her. "Just a second, Steph," she said, clicking the latches on the case closed and shuffling more files. Stephanie settled into one of the leather chairs situated in front of the desk, knowing that a second could mean awhile. "Where's the girls?"

"Sonya hijacked them. I thought it was okay to leave them with her since Dinah whipped out of her dolls and began gibbering on to her about things I didn't quite understand. Apparently, Sonya spoke her language."

"Sonya has four girls of her own that are in their teens. She's got this 'girl' thing down. Me, I was in the yard swinging from trees. I wasn't into dolls," Therese replied with a shrug.

Therese stood up and reached for briefcase when her business phone rang. Glancing at the callerID, the number registered as private and her body began to tingle with foreboding. The number was not patched through by Sonya, which meant someone had her direct line that she only gave to family members. A body passing by her door caught her attention and she called out, "Nguyen!" The guy back-pedaled and she yelled, "Get Jamie to trace this call!" He began to form the word 'what' but she screamed, "Jamie! Call! Trace! MOVE!" To add emphasis to her words, she threw her pencil at him. While she was an excellent markswoman, the blonde had no aim with anything other than a gun. The man was already gone when the pencil bounced off one of the glass panels surrounding her door.

The phone was in the middle of its third ring and Therese's hand hovered over the receiver.

TBC…