AN: Special Thank you to all my faithful readers and reviewers! Will respond to messages soon. In the mean time, I hope you all enjoy this next installment (I'm falling as asleep so I hope there are not too many boo boos but please do let me know of any I need to fix!)

Tanith


Chapter 40

Mike gave Steve's door a harder and more insistent knock but there was still response. "Steve!" he cupped his hands and hollered, earning him the attention of the neighbour next door who flicked on the porch light poked her head through the curtain, giving the noisy visitor an annoyed glare. Sheepishly, Mike refrained from shouting again and looked at Irene for an answer.

"Maybe he's gone to grab a bite to eat?" Irene suggested. "Let's just give him half an hour. We can wait in the car."

"And do what? Twiddle our thumbs?" Mike snapped then his face softened and he apologised. "I'm sorry, Irene, I'm just..."

"Worried, I know. Come on, unless you want to break the door down and wake all of the neighbours, let's go back to your car. Get Bill on the horn and find out what it was that Steve wanted to tell you. If it was as urgent as he said it was, we might find out where Steve has driven off to." Irene hooked her arm through Mike's elbow and led him off the front porch of Steve's place. They walked down the stairs together and returned to Mike's car. On their way over to his partner's address, Mike had suggested they make a quick pit stop to Irene's to drop her car off and just use the tan Galaxie instead. It made more sense to use one car when they were now travelling to the same places.

Mike snatched up the radio receiver and transmitted his request to headquarters. Unfortunately, Bill had just left the office and was currently unreachable.

"Two MIA detectives. Great. Just great!" Mike huffed, not believing the rotten timing.


Whitney let the front door swing shut then confronted his father. "Why did you have to bring business here, dad?"

"Need I remind you whose name is on the deed of this cabin?" George Holden shot back in frustration.

"You gave this place to me to keep me out of your affairs, remember?" Whitney scoffed.

"Loaned is the word I would use, son! I'll be leaving shortly with Lonnie and Vic. Tomorrow morning, I'll come back for the child."

"The kid – you didn't just kidnap the Lees' little girl, did you?" Whitney demanded.

"Keep your voice down unless you want your girlfriend involved," George warned.

"She's upstairs resting. Now answer the question!"

"Resting? And how much of the stuff you stole from my office did you give her, huh?" George fired back.

Whitney stood speechless. How did his father find out he'd taken the vial?

"Don't look so shocked, boy. I keep a tight inventory of everything I own and I have eyes everywhere so don't waste your breath with your petty excuses and lies. How much did you give her?"

Whitney ran a hand over his face and threw his hair. He had assumed the vial contained a sleeping drug but from the way his father was grilling him, he was starting to feel uneasy. "I don't know. A few drops, maybe."

George shook his head and sighed heavily. "You're an idiot, you know that?"

"What was in that vial?" Whitney visibly paled.

"It's an experimental drug that a pharmaceutical company I have an important business connection with has concocted. It's a tranquilizer of some kind. Very powerful. One drop is enough to put a small child to sleep for twelve hours. Unlike a lot of other drugs out there, it's practically undetectable and wears off without a trace in the blood stream. Problem is, it has some interesting side effects," George explained.

"What kind of side effects?"

"Memory loss, sudden hysteria, hypothermic symptoms and disorientation but as I said, the drug is still in its experimental stages."

"And you were ready to use it on a child?" Whitney said incredulously.

"Only in harmless doses. It is designed to one day be out on the market to treat children with behavioural problems."

"Oh God, what have I done?" Whitney tilted his head to the ceiling and paced in front of his dad.

"It's a little late for that now! That's always been the problem with you. You always act first before you think."

"What do I do? I mean that stuff's not gonna kill her is it?" Whitney pleaded.

"If you're that worried, call Dr. Downing in the morning. In the mean-time, just let her sleep it off," George waved away his son's concerns.

The conversation came to an end when Lonnie and Vic returned from settling the child in a room.

"She's awake, boss," Lonnie announced. "You want me to give her something?"

George turned his attention to the heavyset man. "No, I think a little bed time story might do the trick. Used to work on Whitney when he was a boy, didn't it, son?" Returning his gaze to Whitney, he added, "We'll talk about this later."

Whitney nodded stiffly, clamped his mouth shut and decided to check on Jeannie. His gut churned with worry over what his father had just told him about the drug he had slipped into her wine earlier that evening. It was supposed to be harmless! Why was everything falling apart? He thought dismally, cursing his father. Cursing Keller and cursing himself for his stupidity.


Steve's worry deepened then a moan reached his ears and Jeannie stirred. He exhaled heavily, releasing the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. "Jeannie?"

"Mmm m? Mike?" Jeannie mumbled incoherently.

"No, it's Steve. Jeannie, stay with me! Jeannie!" Steve had by this stage abandoned his attempts to quieten down. He hooked Jeannie's limp arm over his shoulder, draping it around the back of his neck then lifted her off the bed. He bit back a groan as the action brought with it excruciating pain through his injured torso. With the unconscious girl securely held in his arms, he headed for the window. Now came the hard part, he thought, but before he could even formulate a way of getting Jeannie through their only means of escape, the sound of a key opening a lock stopped his heart. Then the door burst open and Whitney's livid face filled Steve's vision.