There had been an hour gap between the wedding and the reception. This was for the wedding photos and for everyone to slip into something different for the reception. Naomi and her bridesmaids had decided to change into purple dresses that made it easier for them to dance. Virgil and his brothers just decided to get rid of the ties. The reception was to be held at the Green Dragon Inn, one of the many attractions at the Hobbiton farm 10 kilometres from Matamata.
One of the first jobs of the newly wedded was to mingle with their guests. Naomi, not wanting to mingle for long, found the group of guys who thought it would be funny to wear badges saying, 'Bride Protection Squad' to the reception. Of course, Naomi couldn't blame them. Nico Solace, Will di Angelo, Chase Flaggon, Connor Jones and Archie Roy were the closest thing she had to family when she was living and working in Washington. The team had gone through a lot together. Nico and Will had come prepared with fake HR forms for Naomi and Virgil to fill out so that they could be filled into Naomi's personnel file back at the FBI. Chase had brought the happy couple a first add kit that his wife had designed. It wasn't a real first add kit but rather small knick knacks that were reminders about how life was an adventure and you had to look after yourself and others. Virgil and Naomi stayed with the team for a long time, not caring about the time spent with five guys.
"You did it captain," Archie said, "You got married,"
"Yep," Naomi kissed Virgil "I did that,"
"Yes, you did," Virgil agreed.
"Virg, Naomi it's time for the toasts," Scott, tapped his little brother on the shoulder.
"Excuse us," Naomi told her former team mates. The happy couple made their way to the front of the Green Dragon where most of the wedding party was sitting. Scott took a seat to the left of the main chairs. Naomi took the one on the right while Virgil called the party to silence.
"Thank you all for coming," Virgil said "My wife and I know a lot of you have travelled great distance to be here today. It is greatly appreciated. I believe there are some speeches to be said but after that, there will be dancing, so please enjoy the night," The gathered people clapped as Virgil sat down and Scott stood up.
"I've known both Naomi and Virgil for most of my life. I was five when Virgil was born and almost a year after that, I meet Naomi. Virg – you have the hardest job of all us brothers; making sure that John and I don't get to big for our boots and keeping Alan and Gordon in line," There was some disagreement from Gordon "But you're always there for us. Naomi – you have the hardest job that I've ever seen; making sure that Virgil is okay. He's a tough cookie but he's got a tender heart. So, it's understandable that you both forgot to plan for a cake,"
"We forgot the cake," Naomi whispered to her husband.
"We forgot the cake," Virgil agreed.
"Which is why the wedding present from myself and Megan is a wedding cake because you can't have a wedding without it," Two staff members rolled a trolley in front of the main table. On the trolley was a three-tier cake. On the top tier, the traditional Groom and Bride figures stood still. But that was about as traditional as it got; the white icing had been almost completely covered by purple and green fondant that trickled down the sides of the cake.
"Go on you two lovebirds," Gordon called out "Some of us want cake!" The reception attenders laughed. Naomi and Virgil got out of their seats to go cut the cake.
Cameron was manning the bar. It had been rather easy to convince one of the staff members to go for a little nap while he covered his shift. Cameron suffered through the speeches. The tears flowing from the bride's uncle towards the end of his speech. Jeff Tracy's long one full of wisdom. The speech from some random that Cameron assumed was one of the cousins that the bride had left in New Zealand after the death of her immediate family. It was tedious. But it had to be done. Sooner rather than later, Gordon Tracy would make his way to the bar and have a drink alone, giving Cameron the perfect opportunity to strike.
Gordon had left one of Naomi's cousin's kid on the dancefloor with another one of Naomi's cousin's kids. While the dancing was nice, Gordon couldn't help but think of Stassia. So, he left the dance floor and made his way to the bar. Gordon knew his limits – one glass of the good stuff and that would be enough.
"What can I get ya mate?" The bartender asked as Gordon sat at one of the bar stools.
"Just a beer thanks," Gordon replied.
"Bride or the Groom?"
"Both. Virg's my older brother. Naomi lived next door,"
"Nice," The bartender put a bottle of beer on coaster. Gordon picked it up and looked at the bartender for the first time. Gordon could have sworn he'd seen him before.
"You look familiar," Gordon said, bringing the beer to his lips.
"I should hope so cadet," The bartender smirked "We almost died together,"
"We almost…" It dawned on Gordon "Commander Muter?"
"Let's go, outside shall we?" Muter said, taking off the apron he'd been wearing.
"Yeah sure," Gordon got up, taking his beer with him.
"I'm going outside to grab some fresh air," Naomi told Virgil, Scott and her high school friend Toby.
"Okay," Virgil said, "I'll be waiting," Naomi smiled and took her leave. She managed to get outside without too many of the guests coming up to congratulate to her. It was cold night and Naomi had wished she'd remembered that New Zealand would be in the middle of winter and brought a jacket with her for the reception. It had been Virgil's idea to have the reception at Hobbiton – a ten-minute drive to Naomi's childhood home and beautiful scenery for the guests who probably would never set foot in the small country again. He'd been right. It was beautiful. Looking around the ground, Naomi spotted Gordon talking to someone. Although it was quite dark, the fairy lights brought enough light that Naomi could read Gordon's body language. He wasn't comfortable in the situation he was in. Naomi walked toward her brother-in-law, hoping that her presence would be enough to change the atmosphere.
"Hey Gordon," She called out as she drew closer to the party of two.
"Naomi, what are you doing out here?" Gordon asked.
"Catching some air, what about you?"
"Commander Muter, this is my sister-in-law Naomi. Naomi this is Commander Muter, my SO aboard the hydrofoil," Naomi's mind started working overtime. Gordon could only mean one hydrofoil – and everyone but him had perished. Then Naomi recalled the small bit on Commander Muter; his body wasn't found in the wreckage or the surrounding waters, so he was missing, presumed dead.
"Gordon, I told you that you could call me Cameron. I'm no longer apart of WASP and neither are you,"
"It's a pleasure to meet you Mr Muter," Naomi smiled politely, holding her hand out "It's not often I get to meet someone who could tell Gordon what to do and he'd follow their orders," Cameron shook her hand and laughed.
"The pleasure's all mine Naomi. Congratulations by the way,"
"Thanks,"
"So, what are you doing in New Zealand of all countries?" Gordon asked, "I heard the recovery teams look through most of the Pacific to find your body,"
"It's small, quiet and I washed ashore near Taranaki with no memory," Cameron answered. Naomi frowned.
"Taranaki, you say? You're a lucky man Cameron," Naomi said, "I heard stories about the dangerous rips at the Raglan beach a few minutes up the coast from Taranaki when I was a kid,"
"Thankfully I didn't get caught. One of the local Aborigines told me all about those rips. And I'm not the lucky one – Gordon here is,"
"Have you had a chance to read the report?" Gordon asked, changing the subject.
"Yeah," Cameron admitted, looking at his feet "A right shame that one of your crew was one of the culprits,"
"We must have read a different report then," Naomi stated "None of the cadet crews were the culprit. It was a senior member of the hydrofoil crew. Also, Cameron, there's a few things off about your story,"
"And what would they be?" Cameron asked. His body language screamed attack.
"Well the first is Raglan beach isn't near Taranaki, it's on the opposite side of the country. The second thing is that Taranaki is near the Tasman Sea not the Pacific Ocean where one would assume you'd exit from. And finally, we don't call the Maori people Aborigines. You would have known that if you'd been living here for the past two years" Naomi moved slightly in front of Gordon "So, with that in mind, I think that this means it's possible that you were the one who tampered with the hydrofoil," Cameron glared at Naomi before pulling out a small tablet out of his pocket.
"I was hoping to just take Gordon tonight, but I can't have you blabbing to the world what you know because the world will listen to you," Cameron said, pushing Naomi with his shoulder as he grabbed Gordon. Naomi was thrown to the ground while Gordon tried to wrestle his way out of Cameron's grip. But he just couldn't do it. Naomi watched Cameron slip the tablet into Gordon's mouth. Enraged, Naomi got up and tried to stop Cameron in any way possible. The thing is, Cameron knew that's what she would do; the girl who would do anything to save her family. He dropped Gordon to the ground. Cameron grabbed Naomi, quickly slipping her a second tablet.
"Hey Scott," Dean caught the oldest Tracy's attention. Scott turned to see Naomi's uncle and aunt walking towards him
"Hey Mr Turner," Scott said.
"I think you can call me Dean. We're family," Dean smiled "Anyway, have you seen Naomi and Virgil? Julie and I want to get going," Scott thought about it.
"I last saw Virgil he was heading towards the bathroom a few minutes ago. And last time I saw Naomi, she headed outside to get some fresh air but that was a few hours ago,"
"Hey Uncle Dean," Virgil said, "You guys thinking about heading off?"
"Yeah, just wanted to say goodbye to you and Naomi,"
"Naomi did go outside to grab some air, she would have come in,"
"Hey Virg," Will di Angelo said, "We're about to head off, just came to check if you or Naomi needed some help," The rest of Naomi's team showed up.
"I don't need any help at the moment – not sure about Naomi, haven't seen her in a bit,"
"No one has – not since she left to get a bit of air," Scott said.
"Has anyone seen Gordon?" Alan joined the conversation "He promised he'd pay me twenty bucks if he didn't get drunk by the end of the night. It's the end of the night and he didn't get drunk. I want my twenty bucks," Suddenly, a piercing scream was heard. With several FBI Agents and first responders in the building, the natural thing was to follow the scream. They found an employee of The Green Dragon helping another person.
"Is everything okay ma'am?" Dean asked the employee
"No sir, Billy here, well I found him locked in the cleaning cupboard unconscious," The employee said, "Dorothy's gone to call the cops,"
"Billy, I'm Dean Turner. I'm an agent with the FBI and I'm pretty sure you didn't end up in the supply closet on your own accord,"
"No way sir," Billy laughed "It was this older dude – he was pretty polite, gave me his stuff when he took mine,"
"Can you give us a description?" Will asked
"He looked a bit older than that dude there," Billy pointed to Jeff "He had similar haircuts to the dude and the younger dude,"
"So, some form of military," Scott said
"Can I see that jacket Billy?" Julie asked. Billy nodded and took his jacket off. Julie took the jacket.
"Is this something you'd wear? Jeff? Scott?" Both nodded
"There's a patch on the shoulder – WASP," Chase pointed out.
"Let me try something," Dean said, look in the jacket's front pocket. Sure enough he found what he was looking for – a pocket diary.
"We should leave the notebook for the New Zealand police Agent Turner," Nico said "We're out of our judistriction,"
"I know but I have a feeling," Dean opened the notebook to the 14th of July. In red pen was 'kidnap GT'.