"Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death." -Earl Wilson

Earlier…

Tony

I heard Akacia and another few voices outside. The steal door was opened and from where I sat I could see into the room opposite me. A feeling of panic overcame me as I gazed at who was being kept beyond the other door.

Hope sat directly across from me. She looked slightly pale and tired, but I could still see the fury and willfulness in her sapphire eyes. Her hands, unlike mine, were chained behind her and linked onto a large, rusty, metal ring in the center of the cement floor. Unfortunately I could see that the shackles had cut into the delicate skin on her wrists, and there was a small amount of red dripping onto her hands. It made me wince.

She sat cross legged staring at me. It looked as though she was trying to smile, but the piece of duct tape across her mouth kept her from doing so.

I only saw her for about twenty seconds but it seemed like an hour. She looked at me, tears forming in her eyes. This can't be happening. I have to get out of here.

Testing my bonds again, they were still as tight as ever, but I was beginning to feel some slack. Akacia's quiet conversation outside was coming to an end. With all the confidence I could muster I smiled at Hope and shook my head, mouthing "it'll be okay, I promise" before the door was closed in front of her and Akacia stepped in front of me.

"Akacia," I rasped before she could say anything, "Do you have to keep her chained up like a dog? She's gonna get tetanus or something."

"That girl will be just fine. She has everything she could ever hope for. She'll be set free just as long as I get what I want," Akacia said kneeling in front of me. She was oblivious to my struggling and the ropes were starting to come loose.

"What do you want?" I asked in confusion, but then went back to the previous subject, "Please, I'll switch places with her, just let her go, I'll be the...bait that you need Akacia."

"You would risk your life for her?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because she's my friend," I told her in a subdued but angry voice. She looked at me, confused, annoyed, and concerned.

"I'm sorry Tony. It's almost over though--"

"How can you say that?" I snapped at her. She's insane.

"I--" she began but then seemed to notice my struggling. I had just gotten loose and was about to reach out for her, but my arms were still in the pins and needles stage. Before I could stop her she had her small but vice like hands around both my wrists. I fought but I was still numb.

A man, the same one that had "shot" me came in hovering over us, syringe poised. I pulled Akacia's hands, but before I could break through she flipped over my right arm and the needle went right into my vein. I was barely able to see Akacia through the haze of pain but she was staring straight into my eyes.

"It's for your own good Tony."

Monotonous, I thought. That's all I remember, before...black.

...

Jamie

"What the hell is going on!?" I whispered to myself as I ran down another corridor of the indoor Water Park that I worked at. There were three different pools and tons of different hallways in the building, the man chasing me could be anywhere.

No one was around because the place closed early today. I looked down at my watch, this guy had been chasing me for forty minutes. I wasn't sure how I had evaded him for this long.

Well, I guess I have the advantage here right? I know this place better than anyone else, I thought as I started down another hallway and slipped into the emergency stairwell to my right.

Stopping to catch my breath, I could barely make out the sound of someone's footsteps nearing the door. This guy's a machine! I'm exhausted and yet he still keeps coming! How does he always know where I am? And what the hell does he want with me? It's not like I have anything valuable! My car's a piece of scrap metal on wheels and I've got about five dollars in my wallet and some change in my pocket. This must be a really bad day for me...

With all my remaining energy I bounded up the stairs as quietly as I could, my sneakers squeaking slightly as I went. I stopped when I got to the second floor, there was no where else to go! I would have to take my chances in one of the locker rooms.

Silently I made my way into the employee locker room. Someone must realize I'm missing by now right? I mean I never checked out or handed in my keys, surely someone would have noticed! The sound of footsteps cut through my thoughts and I started to weave around the lockers. There's no where to go! I'm trapped!

I peaked around a set of lockers in the middle of the room and to my unfortunate surprise made eye contact with my pursuer. Shit!

He was about ten feet away from me and the menacing scowl on his face made my blood run cold. I took a short gasp of air, turned and ran as fast as I could.

Maybe, just maybe, I could get to the opposite end of the locker room and out the other exit before...

A huge hand grabbed the back of my uniform polo pulling me backwards and right into a row of lockers. I was dazed as my head and back came in contact with the metal.

The man who was about a foot taller than my 5' 9" grasped my arms, pushing them back into the lockers, effectively pinning me.

"Hello Jamie," he said a gruff voice, not an ounce of exhaustion in it, "This has been an entertaining game of cat and mouse, but I've grown bored, so now we must get down to business."

I grimaced at the pain coursing through my whole body and slowly began to regain my focus. I stared straight into the man's eyes, not letting him see any sign of how freaked out I was and tried to act defiant, "Who are you?"

He seemed to think it was a humorous question but answered readily, "A friend."

"Well, you sure no how to greet your acquaintances," I groaned.

He laughed again and a greasy smile came onto his face, "I like you kid, you got spunk. Now, like I said before, time for business. It's really a shame, you're a good lookin' kid."

I shuttered at what he was implying, limply I tried to squirm out of his grasp but he only held on tighter.

"First things first Jamie, let's call your brother."

...

Joe

"We have to find him!" Biff stated, his face a mixture of fear and panic, "We have to find him!"

"Yes. Yes we do," Frank said in a grim tone.

After Biff had finally recovered from the chilling phone call, he had related exactly what had been said to him. Everyone sat in silence, contemplating what to do next. Jamie was a good friend of all of ours so we matched the older Hooper's concern.

"But how?" Nic finally voiced everyone's thoughts.

"When was the last time you talked to him Biff? Where was he last?" I asked trying to narrow down the possibilities.

"Um, I talked to him just this afternoon. He called to see if we'd gotten any news about Hope," Biff explained. You could see it in his face, he was going to snap any minute. First Hope, then Tony, now Jay.

"He was at work, at the Water Park," Biff went on, "But that's it, he had to go, but he said he'd call me back later."

"Wait, doesn't Jerry work there too?" Frank asked, referring to our good friend, Jerry Gilroy, who happened to be Jamie's best friend.

"Yeah, I'll call him right now, see if he saw Jay leave earlier or something," I said anxiously, fishing my cell from my pocket. But before I could dial Jerry's number the phone rang in my hand. It was Vanessa.

"Hi 'Ness, what's up?" I answered, trying to keep any sign of worry out of my voice.

"Joe, what's going on? Jamie was supposed to be over here half an hour ago. He's not picking up his phone," she said, sounding annoyed but still concerned. I knew what she was talking about, Jay had offered to come take a look at Vanessa's car today, she was having some sort of engine trouble. I told her that I could handle it, but she insisted that Jamie could do a better job. I admit that Jamie is an amazing mechanic, but I think I could do just a good a job as him. The thing is Vanessa does not trust me with her car...I can't figure out why...

"Vanessa, it's okay he's just...running late. But hun, I can fix it you know, you don't need Jay--"

"Joe Hardy, do you remember the last time you fixed my car?"

"Uh--"

"Yeah, and now I have this nice new one, I don't want to have to find another car. Are you sure he's just running late?"

"Of course. Don't worry Vanessa, how are you and Jared doing?"

"Don't you go changing the subject. Tell me, is everything okay? You sound off...like you're hiding something."

How does she always know?!

"Listen Van, Jamie is, well, MIA at the moment, but don't worry I'll call you the minute we find him--"

"Jamie's missing now too!?"

"It's okay, listen I have to go now, I'll talk to you later, bye 'Ness."

I hung up before she could argue with me anymore. The next thing I did was dial Jerry's number. Despite the situation, I could see the smirks on everyone's faces about the conversation I just had with Vanessa.

"Hello?" Jerry answered on the third ring.

"Hey Jerry, it's Joe."

"Hey Joe, what's up?"

"Is Jay still at work Jerry? Have you seen him recently?"

"Actually the Water Park closed early today. But come to think of it, I didn't see Jamie leave. Usually we walk out to the parking lot together, but he never showed up. I just figured he had left already. Is something wrong Joe?"

"Yeah, Jay's missing and Biff got this...phone call...and...well..."

"Woah."

"Is there anyway of knowing if Jamie left the pool Jerry?"

"Yeah. Every one has a set of keys to get into the employee sections, if you don't turn them in at the end of the day, you don't get paid. I know Jamie would never forget to turn his keys in. So if they're not behind the front desk, Jamie hasn't left the building yet."

"Thanks Jerry. I'll call you when we find him," I replied, but I had hard time not saying "if we find him."

"You do that. Bye Joe."

I turned to Frank, Nic, and Biff who were all waiting to hear what Jerry had to say.

"I'll explain in the car. We have to get over to the Water Park."

...

Twenty minutes later, I'd explained the conversation I'd had with Jerry and how even though we were breaking and entering it was for a good cause.

"How are we supposed to get in Joe? I'm sure they have really high security," Frank argued. I knew he was really worried about Jamie, but he also wanted to obey the law.

"Actually, Jamie told me that only the front and side entrances are secured with alarms. The back exit is just your ordinary lock," Biff commented. Frank looked at him, then at me and sighed.

"Okay then, it's settled we'll use the back door," he said with a small grin.

"Glad you've come to your senses Frank," I said in an attempt to lighten the mood.

We pulled into the Water Park lot and silently made our way around back, Frank held a small flashlight while I picked the lock. Both Biff and Nic stood guard to make sure no one was around to see us.

Once inside we stood as quietly as possible, trying to hear any noise to alert us as to where Jamie was, if he was here. But it was dead silent, not even one creak or squeak.

"Let's make sure Jamie hasn't already left," Biff said heading over to the front desk and examining the rack of keys underneath the counter. All of them were there except for Jamie Hooper's.

"So according to Jerry, he has to still be in the building," I said.

"But where? He could be anywhere in here, and who knows who's with him," Frank added bleakly.

"Well, we'll just have to look--"

But I didn't get to finish my sentence, because a loud scream filled the air around us.

Jamie's scream.