The phone rang and Matt released C.J. from their embrace and picked it up. C.J. watched the blood drain out of Matt's face as he listened but didn't say a word. He only blinked. She felt like something was wrong all of a sudden. "I'm on my way," was all he said.
C.J. swallowed, "What is it, what's wrong?" she was starting to panic.
Matt looked at her and said, "That was Greg the security guard I hired. Someone ran down Uncle Roy when he and Chris went for their walk. He's on his way to Boardwalk Methodist Hospital. They want me over there now."
Matt tried to center himself as he told her the rest of the phone conversation and what it meant. "C.J., Chris is missing. Greg said that whoever it was grabbed her and took off in a van. Now Hoyt is on his way, but I think maybe you should stay here and look over this map. See if you can figure out exactly where he's keeping her on that property so we can get the police over there. Greg said Hoyt already has roadblocks set up between here and the winery so hopefully we can catch him before he gets her to it."
C.J. was finding it hard to breathe but said, "Ok, call me as soon as you hear anything, please."
Matt nodded and took her face in his hands one last time and told her, "Stay here and stay safe, I love you." She told him, "Don't do anything without me. I love you." They kissed and he left.
C.J. turned back to the image but it was getting harder and harder to concentrate. Chris was with this monster again. She promised her she would keep her safe and now he had her again. What was Chris going through? Would she even survive this time? C.J. kept trying to focus, she needs me to find her, she kept telling herself. Then she saw it, a helicopter pad on the western part of the property. If he got Chris in a helicopter he could bypass the roadblocks.
C.J. looked out to the patio of the penthouse at their chopper. She took a piece of paper and quickly shot off a note to Matt. She ran downstairs and changed into something more athletic and climbed in. She belted up, got it going and was in the air in matter of seconds.
It didn't take her 20 minutes to reach the winery. Sure enough a helicopter was there so she flew around to the backside of the property. Since the winery was over 1,000 acres and she knew all the living quarters were on the other side, he might not suspect she was there. She found a nice open spot and sat the bird down. She cautiously got out and ran into the wooded area with the gun Matt kept hidden under the pilot's seat. She was going to find her friend and stop this monster once and for all. There wasn't going to be any trial, she planned to serve as judge, jury, and executioner.
Matt got down to the hospital and the very familiar looking surgeon greeted him and told him his uncle would be just fine. Things appeared worse than they actually were and that the only trouble they were having was keeping him in bed. They decided to sedate him as they repaired a couple of serious cuts with stitches and would let Matt know if anything changed.
Hoyt came running down the hallway and asked, "How's Roy?"
Matt exhaled and said "He's going to be fine. The real question here is where's Chris?" Matt walked over to the wall and punched it, "He's got her again. He told her he could get to her and I couldn't keep her safe and he's got her again."
Hoyt walked over to him, "He won't have her for long, every road leading back to that winery is blocked. I've already talked to our friends in the federal departments working on the task force and they are going to make sure they stop him."
Matt started walking to his car, "Look, now that I know Uncle Roy is fine, I've got to get back to C.J. I don't like leaving her this exposed and worried. She's back at the penthouse looking at maps of the winery. Why don't you come with me and we can see if we can't find out exactly where he's taking Chris in case he gets past your roadblocks."
Hoyt's beeper went off and he called from Matt's car phone. The federal authorities had not seen Telso's car but did see a helicopter fly overhead that appeared to land on his property. Upon further research they uncovered that Telso had a helicopter. He asked Hoyt if there was any direct evidence that pointed to Telso as the one responsible for kidnapping Chris. Hoyt had talked to his men and no one got even a partial plate this time on the vehicle that ran Roy down, so the short answer was no.
Hoyt knew that this meant. They still had no probable cause, they couldn't go on the property. Hoyt told Matt to drive to the police station so they could take the police copter. They figured they could land on the less developed sections to the back of the winery undetected. Hoyt knew they were breaking the rules here, but had decided he was ok with that. He had found it hard to sleep many a night before he had to testify in a rape trial. He hated the way they were conducted. He dreaded the day Chris would have to endure that. All these laws he has to uphold to make sure people's rights weren't violated when these were the people violating the rights of others. It started to disgust him. He could come up with some probable cause later, right now Chris was in the hands of a monster and he didn't mind breaking a few rules if that meant she would survive.
Matt tried calling C.J. at the penthouse before they got to police headquarters, but she didn't answer. He didn't plan on telling her where he was going exactly but wanted to make sure she was ok. Her not answering frightened him, but Hoyt told him that if they didn't take the chopper now, they wouldn't get a second chance and they were running out of time. Matt nodded and the two ran up to it and climbed in with Matt doing the flying.
C.J. moved cautiously around the property. She had printed out the map and quickly enough located where she was on it relative to the living spaces. It would take a while, she knew, but it was her best chance of finding her friend. She started to feel lost once she got into the berry patches though. In fact she felt like she was going in circles for a while. The patterns to the rows were not all the same the way she expected them to be. It was hot too, the middle of the day. The sun was directly, it seemed overhead so she couldn't make out the direction she was going and since she couldn't see how the chopper was pointed anymore, she did feel lost. She sat down for a second and put her head in her hands, praying she could get out of this maze and find Chris before Telso hurt her again.
Matt and Hoyt spotted Matt's chopper right away. "What the…" Matt started to say, but then thought about his wife. She left, she must have found out that Telso had a chopper of his own and went off on her own. She was being frustrating again. He told her to stay there and stay safe. Her going off like this was not doing what he asked. Of course, she told him not to do anything without her and he left, but that was different, at least to Matt. Hoyt decided that this may be fudging the truth a little, but he would call it in as probable cause anyway. They radioed quickly to the task force that they had evidence that Telso had kidnapped C.J. Parsons-Houston along with Chris to get back up. There was enough room for both helicopters and both men got out, guns drawn and started for the buildings, especially the storage facility.
They found broken branches and other indications that C.J. was just ahead of them. Matt's heart was racing as he could only think of the possibilities as to what could happen to her if Telso caught up with her before he did.
As they made their way to the actual fields, he spotted her sitting down and his heart went to his throat as he ran to her. "C.J." he said as approached her and she looked up to see him. She wiped her tears and said, "I got lost."
He held her and said, "I told you to stay at the penthouse and wait for me. What are you doing here?"
She looked him up and down and said, "I could ask you the same thing. I thought I told you not to do anything without me."
Hoyt interrupted, "We can debate this later. Right now we have to find Chris," as he started moving forward.
C.J. started to move, but Matt held her arm back and told her, "Go to the chopper and take it back to the penthouse."
C.J. looked him in the eye and said, "No, I'm not going. Hoyt's right, we have to find Chris. We can have this argument later."
Matt closed his eyes for a second and the three kept going with C.J. clearly in front until Matt caught up with her pulling her behind him. If she was staying with them, she was staying to the rear.
They got to the entrance to the storage facility and heard noises, more like screams. It was Chris.