Chapter 6 Big Brother Is Watching

Chris's House

Isabella is still searching through Chris's house. So far she hasn't found anything. She goes down into the cellar. Unlike normal cellars, Chris's cellar is nice and clean - no spiders and no cob webs. Until suddenly, a mouse comes running across the floor and scares Isabella. She screams and jumps back against the wall and her elbow goes straight into the wall. All of a sudden she hears a creaking sound and a a small panel on the rock wall opens and reveals an electronic lock.

What in the world is this thing doing here? I wonder what's it for? I guess it wouldn't hurt to try to get the right code and find out what this thing is going to do. Chris must have installed it. I wonder if this has a clue to what is going on with him?

Isabella enters numbers on the keypad - Chris's age, Chris's birthday, their anniversary, Zak's birthday. No luck. Finally, she enters her birthday. Bingo! Another weird noise. The area behind the electronic lock lifts up - it's a door and lights come on behind it.

Isabella very carefully enters the hidden room. The room is about
20' x 20'. She sees a wall with a variety of weapons - handguns, sniper rifles, machine guns, knives, shot guns, etc...

Isabella searches through the desk drawers and the room, but she doesn't find any clues.

Another wall is full of large screens and it's connected to a computer. She decides to touch the space bar on the computer. A window pops up that asks for a password. Isabella begins to enter passwords for about five minutes. As she's just about ready to give up, she enters the inscription on Chris's wedding ring. Presto! The screens are becoming active.

One of the screens appears to be security camera pictures of Chris's house. One screen shows Isabella's house. Another screen shows Isabella's log home in Buffalo. On all of these screens, Isabella can go to every room in each house. There are also details of people leaving and entering the houses.

The screens are equipped with full color, sound, infrared (for night viewing), etc...

What in the world is going on here? Has Chris been spying on me? How could he be that insecure in our relationship? How long has he been invading my privacy? At this point, Isabella is really mad at Chris.

The last two screens are beginning to appear. The first screen has "Zak D" on it. As it boots up, the label on the screen has "tracking location". Isabella realizes that it is tied to a tracking device! It shows that Zak is at her house with Jean in his bedroom. She could see how this could be handy!

The second screen has "Izzy" on it. Again, it has "tracking location" on it. It finally boots up and shows her location as being under Chris's house.

I can't believe this! My husband is tracking my location all the time? How is he doing it? Talk about a lack of trust! Well, what's good for him, is good for me. There's got to be a way to get these cameras to rewind, so I can tell what he's been up to!

Isabella starts playing with the cameras at Chris's house. She's messing around with it for about 20 minutes. Suddenly a message appears on the screen "Remote shutdown started. System destruction in 2 minutes". Isabella decides she better get out of the room!

She just makes it out of the door before it slams shut. She's hears a loud noise and wonders if the whole house is going to blow up! She runs out of the basement and out of the house. Of course, when she gets outside, the media are posted and are taking tons of pictures of her. She gets in her vehicle and heads home.

Between Isabella and Chris's House

On the way home, she calls Tina.

"Tina, I just found this secret room in Chris's house. You won't believe what it has in it!"

"Actually, I know all about it. Did you find anything of interest?"

"Chris's been spying on Zak and me. That b*****d!"

"Well, does this mean that you don't want me to search for him?"

"No, I want you to find him. I can't wait to get my hands on him! How's it going?"

"No luck so far. But you know what they say, nothing worth finding is ever easy to find!" Tina hangs up on Isabella.

Isabella's House

Isabella arrives home. She's glad that Jean has arrived. At least Zak is in a better mood with her around.

"Isabella, I know this is hard, but do you need help arranging Chris's funeral?"

"Jean, the police haven't confirmed that the guy in the car was Chris. I want to wait".

"I think you're in denial. If Chris were alive, he'd know what has happened and he'd contact either you or Zak. He wouldn't put you guys through this hell. Maybe you and Zak need to see a therapist."

"No, we don't need a shrink. We'll be fine. I need to call Chris's family and tell them what's going on." Isabella calls Chris's brother Peter and gives him the latest news - no confirmation has arrived that the body was Chris's. He asks her if she or Zak need him to come to France. She says no.

London, England

Tina is at her apartment in London, when the phone rings.

"Tina, this is the director. I've talked to Chris, he's being way too stubborn about this whole thing. I'm trying to work on something to help him. In the meantime, you and Mrs. Smith can talk to him and see if you can get him on board with my plan. Here's his address..."

"Thanks director. We'll fly there directly". After getting Chris's address, Tina hops a plane to Paris.

Isabella's House - The next day

Isabella's phone rings.

"Isabella, I've found him. Get your passport ready and meet me at the Paris International Airport at 2 PM today, I'll find you in the airport. Chris's going to be pissed, so it would be best if you wore something sexy!"

"Okay, see you there. Thanks." Isabella's stunned - Chris's alive and well. She decides not to tell Zak or Jean that Chris's alive. She goes up to tell Zak that she's leaving for a few days and that Jean will take care of him.

"Mom, where are you going? Are you having a secret affair with Johnny?" Zak asks.

"Where in the world would you get that idea?"

"It's all over the internet and it's in the tabloids. If you're screwing him, there's no need for you to come back. Aunt Jean will take care of me until my dad comes back!" He tells here.

"Zak, you shouldn't be on the internet without my approval or your dad's. Secondly, I'm not having an affair with Johnny or anyone else. Thirdly, you're grounded for at least a month. You've been disrespectful to me and full of hate for me! I've done nothing to deserve this crap from you, young man!" Isabella says as she tries to hug Zak, but he pulls away from her and gives her a disgusted look.

"I love you Zak and I'm going to do my best to fix this whole mess!" She says as she leaves.

Paris International Airport

Isabella arrives at the airport and waits for Tina to find her.

"Isabella, follow me and we'll get on the plane"

"Don't we need tickets or something?" Isabella says as she follows Tina through an internal corridor of the airport.

"No, just your passport. Please hand over any communication devices that you have". Isabella gives Tina her cell phone.

"What's up with this secret corridor?"

"It's for people who don't want to be seen"

"Can anyone use it?" Isabella thinks there's a few times she'd like to have been able to use it.

"No". Tina says as they show the attendant their passports and board the plane.

The plane is equipped with all the latest luxuries. Tina drops her duffel bag and begins to clean her weapons.

"Do you think that you're going to need those?"

"As you well know, Chris can be very stubborn. We may have to use some persuasion. Did you bring some really sexy clothes with you?"

"Yes. Where are we headed?"

"Italy". Tina says as the plane takes off.