Chapter Three

Like the legendary mother bear protecting her cubs, Jaime didn't let the locked kitchen door slow her down - she ripped it from the hinges and threw it at the two men who tried to stop her. When she reached the bedroom at the back of the house, her heart sank. The bedroom door was open...and the children were gone.

Jaime whirled around to face the man she heard running toward her. "Where are my kids?" she demanded.

"They'll be returned when you learn to behave yourself and follow directions. Maybe."

"Give me my kids!" Jaime grabbed the guard by his gun arm, twisting it behind his back, crushing the weapon and forcing him to the ground in the same angry motion. Distracted, she didn't notice the other man who stepped out from behind the bedroom door until he stuck the needle in her left arm. Only seconds later, Jaime slumped to the floor, unconscious.

- - -

Steve parked his car about a mile away and made his way through the dense woods that lined the long gravel driveway - faster than he'd ever run before. The house was invisible from the road and the trees surrounding the house itself were almost thick enough to block out all sunlight, shrouding the building in an eerie, oppressive darkness.

There were two cars parked outside, and Steve took a moment to call the plate numbers in to Russ over the datacom.

"Jack should be here in another hour," Russ told him.

"Well, I'm going in now. Give whatever you find out to Jack."

"Steve -!"

"Talk to ya later, Russ." Steve moved around the side of the house, choosing an entry point through a window into the seemingly deserted kitchen. He quickly noted the door that had been torn from its hinges. Jaime is here, he told himself, and she's already been forced to fight.

At the same moment, down in the basement, Jaime was in no shape for any sort of battle. She was alone, draped into the chair where, half an hour earlier, another blast of ice water had failed to rouse her. The group's manipulations were about to become infinitely more cruel.

"Mommy!" Jaime's eyes snapped open when she heard her daughter's amplified voice through the wal speaker. Was it a recording made earlier in the day? If not, what were they doing to force her to cry out? Jaime fought her way to her feet but dizziness quickly drove her to her knees just outside the shower.

At the top of the stairs, Steve had also heard Jenna's voice. All pretense of staying hidden disappeared as her stormed down the stairs. There were no guards to stop him and no sign of the children, but in the center of the floor - soaking wet, shivering and barely conscious - was Jaime.

"Camera..." Jaime mumbled as Steve knelt at her side. She managed to show him with a nod of her head before fading out again. Steve reached up and yanked it from the wall.

"Jaime," he said urgently, gathering her into his arms, "where are the kids?"

"They...took 'em." Jaime struggled to stand up. "Gotta...find..."

"Can you walk?"

"Think...so..." She took a tentative step toward the stairs before her head began to spin and she collapsed into Steve's embrace.

Steve scooped her up easily, holding her limp body close to his chest. "Are they still in the house?"

"Don't think so...heard the front door and...the van and...Steve, we've gotta find 'em!"

"We will," he promised, carrying her toward the stairs. They weren't even halfway up when the speaker came to life.

"Welcome, Colonel Austin; we've been expecting you."

- - -

"We've got big trouble," Russ announced, handing the file to Hansen.

Jack had barely begun to read when they were joined by the other member of their improptu team. "What've we got so far?" Oscar asked anxiously, diving right in. Together with Jack, he began to scan the file. "Oh, no...does Steve know about this?"

Russ shook his head. "He was already on his way inside when he called in the plates."

Oscar's face paled. "He went in there alone?"

"I couldn't stop him."

"Let's go!"

The file, compiled after the plates had been run, painted a picture of terror. Jaime was the fourth top-level operative taken by this group in the last three years. All of the captives had small children who'd been taken with their parent. Two of the agents had eventually returned - with head injuries and their memories erased - and the other had been found several weeks after his abduction...dead. The group's location had been changed far too often for the FBI and NSB to ever catch up to them, and now Jaime (and probably Steve) were somewhere within their clutches.

None of the abducted children had ever been found.

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