"Bye, Uncle Bo," said Natalie as she hung up the phone and sat in the office by herself. They'd all gone to stake out the complex and left her here with Sam. She'd heard John's instructions—to not let her out of her sight and not believe a word she said. She hadn't been planning on doing anything—well, anything really dangerous, she corrected herself. But since talking with Bo and finding out the new information he had she needed to speed things up before they turned from bad to worse.
"You off the phone?" asked Sam as he stuck his head in the door.
"Yeah," she nodded as she noticed the rolled up extra maps on the table.
"Did your uncle have anything helpful for the case?" he asked, trying to start out with the small talk—he'd apologized earlier before everyone else left, but he still felt bad about his actions from the night before.
"Maybe. I'll have to see what John thinks," she said as she reached for the maps. "Can you explain the map to me? I mean I know how to read it and all—I just want to get an idea as to where the entrance you and Scott found before was."
"Why do you need to know that?"
"I'm a forensic tech, it's my job to picture the area—that's all," she smiled sweetly at him.
He looked at her skeptically before rolling out the map on the table and she walking over to his side and watched him explain the landscape, "Ok—we used to park in a wooded area on the east side of the complex, but now we're parking on the north side—they split into their two groups and went in different areas. John and Aaron were going to take the west side of the complex while Brett and Craig were going to go to this point," he said putting his finger down on the northeast corner of the building.
"Why there?" she asked, leaning forward and knowing she was leaning over just a bit too much.
"That's where Scott and I gained entry. They aren't going in though—just wanting to see if the entrance is still there."
Natalie nodded as the phone began to ring and Sam answered, "Hello? Ok—we'll see you in about twenty. That was John—they are on their way back," he said hanging up the phone.
Fear crept in—Natalie wanted to get on the way to the complex before they got back. "I'm going to take a shower before they get here—then we can figure out what's for dinner—I'm starving."
"Ok—I think I'm going to make a phone call," he said as they walked out of the office and he followed her up the steps and past her as she went into her bedroom. Natalie looked in her suitcase and found a black tank top and pants to throw on, turning the shower on to fool Sam long enough to get out of the house. She cracked the door open to hear a muffled sound from his room down the hall—she figured she had 3 minutes before his call was cut off and slipped out.
As she got outside she smiled at Craig's ride sitting at the side of the house—he'd let her drive it earlier and she realized then she could walk it down the hill with ease. As she got to the bottom of the hill, she pulled her hair in a ponytail before putting the helmet on and revving the bike up. She glanced up to the house for a moment, "I'm on my way, Brennan." And she was off.
"I really think we're all set. If we can get an ok tonight we should be able to take our first chance at infiltrating the complex tomorrow," said Aaron as he and the rest of them walked into the house.
"We'll see—let's not jump the gun on this," said John as he saw Sam cooking, but Natalie was nowhere to be found. "Where's Natalie?"
"She's in the shower—shouldn't be long—she's been in there since you called to say you were on your way back."
John didn't say anything, just walked up the steps and into their room—he had to say he was proud of her—she actually didn't try to meet up with them. But as he opened the bathroom door he knew something was off, "Natalie?" he called as he pulled the shower curtain to the side to realize she was gone. "Damn it, Natalie," he yelled as he ran out of the room and down the steps. "She's gone."
"What? What do you mean she's gone? The shower was running I heard it—anyways how could she have gotten over there. My car is still out there—there's no other vehicle except for—," Sam stopped in mid sentence as Craig went running out the door and came back in with a look of frustration on his face.
"It's gone—she took the damn bike. If she does anything to that bike, Irish—you owe me a new one."
"John—Bo Buchanan is calling in," yelled Brett.
"Tell him I'll call him back," he shouted as he thought about what to do next. He looked up when Brett walked in the room, "What did he say?"
"To tell you and Natalie he got a confirmation with Nash on the picture he told her about earlier."
"What picture?"
"Something about George Ralston was a disciple of Mitch Lawrence's."
"My granddaughter is beautiful, isn't she?"
Those were the first words Natalie heard as she snuck up to the room she'd figured out to be a make shift nursery.
"She looks like her father—she wouldn't look this beautiful if she didn't," said the soft feminine voice.
"Don't speak badly about my daughter," he scolded her. "Too bad I'll once again have to watch her grow up through nothing but pictures. But at least she will be away from the cursed Buchanan's. Look at what happened to my poor girl," he said with sadness in his voice.
Natalie stood out of sight and got confirmation on who Brennan's kidnapper was as both her and Mitch exited the room and walked down the hallway. She slipped into the room and picked up Brennan and smiled at watching her niece smile back, "It's ok sweetie—Aunt Natalie is here and we're going to take you home."
"But, my beauty, you are home," said a voice from the doorway that caused the hairs on the back of her neck to stand on end. She turned slowly to face him—and saw that standing behind him, her eyes blank and withdrawn, was Claudia.