Chapter 3: The Move
It was early morning when Jamie started to come to. She blinked slowly until her eyes were accustomed to the light in the room. When Jamie tried to push herself up she almost passed out again as a sharp pain shot up her right arm. She lay back down and waited for her head to stop spinning before she slowly rolled over and used her other arm to push herself up. She checked herself over to make sure that there were no other broken bones. When she touched the back of her head, she winced. Her head was extremely sore and there was some blood on her hand when she looked at it. Jamie sighed. She should have known better than to try to take Dylan without back up. She sat still for a little longer and then slowly stood up and headed towards her bathroom, which was, thankfully, just a few steps down the hall. Jamie washed her hands, carefully because of her wrist, and then tried to clean the back of her head. She found her wrist brace in the closet and slipped it on so that she would not do anything to agitate her wrist again.
Jamie went back to her bedroom, looked at the clock and nearly panicked… until she realized it was a Saturday and she was not supposed to be in school. She pulled out some fresh clothing and gingerly changed. It seemed that every move she made reminded her of her trial of the night before. She was almost surprised, sometimes, when she actually woke up the next morning after some of Dylan's "little talks". She really could not wait until she was good enough to kick his butt for once. When Jamie finished getting changed, she went down into the kitchen where her mother was making coffee.
"Did dad ever come home last night?" Jamie asked as she rooted through the cupboard in search of her favorite cereal.
"No, he did not," her mother replied tersely. Jamie looked up in surprise because her mother almost never showed any form of emotion.
"Is something going on?" Jamie asked tentatively. She was still sore from Dylan and did not want to give her mother a reason to think she was being pertinent.
"We will find out soon, I hope," her mother replied. "There was a call this morning; I'm surprised you didn't hear it."
Jamie just shrugged her shoulders.
"The night guard never saw your father check out last night and when they looked this morning his office had been ransacked…." Her mother trailed off.
"And you haven't heard from him today?" Jamie asked quietly. She was never really sure whether to trust her mother or not, she just got that sort of feeling this time.
"Obviously not or I wouldn't be this darn worried!" her mother yelled. Then her face softened. "I'm sorry honey, I'm just scared."
"It's alright," Jamie said. She grabbed a bowl and sat down at the table with her cereal. "So Dylan left?"
"Yes, he had some important work to do," her mother replied.
"Does he know dad is missing?" Jamie asked innocently. Her father and uncle worked together; if one of them was missing the other would know about it, Jamie was positive. Her mother ignored her question, making Jamie even more suspicious. Breakfast was very quiet because Jamie and her mother really didn't have anything to talk about. When Jamie finished she went back to her room and continued working on her homework. After a little while she pulled out her sketch book instead. She took her pencil and just kind of let her hand go. When she looked at what she had sketched it was a picture of Dylan. It was the way he looked when it was just the two of them in the room. She shook herself and put the book away.
The phone rang after a while and Jamie heard her mother answer it. After a brief, but frantic conversation her mother came upstairs.
"The police found evidence that your father was taken to England this morning. We have to pack and take the next flight over there so that we can assist in the investigation," her mother said quickly. "Pack as quickly as you can and meet me out by the car." Jamie watched her mother dash out of the room and begin packing. Jamie sat there for another moment and then dragged her suitcase from under her bed.
It did not take either of them to gather some clothing and drive to the airport. Soon they were on a flight to London with Jamie sitting in the window seat next to her mother and Dylan. Jamie stared out the window and wondered what was going to happen next in her very strange life situation.