Chapter Eighteen

"Maybe she's asleep, Dean," Sam suggested, holding the Impala's door handle as Dean careened around a corner. "It is one a.m. after all. Or she's in the shower, or her phone is on vibrate, or the battery is dead. It could be any one of a thousand things. Just because she isn't answering her phone doesn't mean anything is wrong."

Dean knew that Sam was trying to make him feel better, but he needed to shut the hell up before he ended up with a broken nose. Dean had accidentally left his phone in the car when they went into the warehouse and when they returned, there had been several texts and a couple of missed calls from Amie. He'd called her back right away, but she hadn't answered. He had been trying every two or three minutes since, but still nothing. He needed to get back to the motel and see if she was okay.

Dean saw the motel sign just ahead. Just a couple more minutes. He barely slowed down as he took the corner into the parking lot and parked across two spots in front of their room. He was out of the car within seconds, racing for the door. It was locked and his banging brought no response. Sam pushed him aside and unlocked the door. Dean couldn't get through the door fast enough.

Every light was on in the room—bedside lamps, overhead light and even the bathroom light. An empty beer bottle was on the table. Amie's boots were on the floor next to the bed, her laptop on the bedside table. Her suitcase, duffle bag and backpack were at the end of the bed, open, clothes spilling out. The TV was on, a rerun of Gilligan's Island playing. Nothing seemed wrong or out of place. Except for the fact that the room was empty.

"I'll go see if the motel manager saw her leave," Sam offered. "I'll be right back."

Dean stood in the middle of the room after Sam left, his eyes trying to take in everything at once. He was looking for something—blood, signs of a struggle—anything to give him a clue as to where Amie might be. There didn't seem to be a thing out of place.

Sam returned and told him what he'd found out. "Manager didn't see or even hear anything. Said the only thing he noticed was all of the lights in the room seemed to come on at once about an hour ago. Otherwise, nothing. Did you find anything in here?"

"Not a thing. It's like she vanished into thin air." Dean suddenly realized what he had just said. He looked at Sam. "Shit, you don't think…angels?"

Sam was quiet for a moment, obviously thinking. "I can't think of anything else," he answered. "If it was anything other than an angel, there would be signs of a struggle, blood, something. You know she wouldn't go down without a fight. But for her to simply be gone, it must be. But what the hell would they want with Amie? She's never even met an angel, not even Cas."

Dean grabbed the beer bottle from the table and threw it across the room. "God dammit!" he bellowed, his fists clenched, anger making him see red. He dropped to the bed, dejected. If the angels really had Amie, there was no way of finding her. They couldn't track them, not anymore. All they could do was wait. Dean put his head in his hands, a feeling of helplessness overwhelming him.

Sam sat down next to him. "We'll find her, Dean. Whatever it takes." Sam put his arm on Dean's shoulder. Dean was grateful for the attempt to comfort him, though it didn't make him feel any better. All he could do was nod. He hoped Sam was right.

Dean had been staring at the ceiling for hours. He couldn't sleep. Amie was the only thing on his mind. Sam had fallen asleep around three a.m. as they watched some mindless cable reality show about the best diners in America. Dean had shut the TV off right after noticing Sam was asleep. Now, he was waiting for exhaustion to overcome him because he knew that was the only way he would sleep.

Earlier, he and Sam had thoroughly searched the room, looking for anything to indicate that it was angels that had taken Amie. Sam had found her gun on the floor, slightly under the fridge, safety off. Dean figured she had dropped it before she was taken. It hadn't been fired, but she'd obviously pulled it for a reason. That was the only thing out of the ordinary. That and all of the lights being on.

The one thing Dean couldn't find despite practically tearing the room apart was Amie's cell phone. At first it had been a cursory search, just to see if it was there. When he didn't see it, his search became intensive. She always had her phone with her, usually sitting on a table next to her or tucked against her leg when she sat on the bed or couch. She kept it in her pocket when she was hunting. Dean looked everywhere, even dumping out her luggage on the bed to search for it. It wasn't in the luggage, or her backpack or even the small purse she sometimes carried. And it wasn't like it would be easy to miss. It was in an obnoxious, bright purple case for God's sake. Dean prayed that meant that she had it with her.

Once he realized that her phone wasn't in the room, he called Kevin to get him looking into turning on the GPS. Kev had to hack into her account first, but he promised he'd call as soon as it was on. Waiting for Kevin to call was contributing to Dean's inability to sleep. Dean had his phone sitting on his chest as he laid in the bed so he wouldn't miss the call. So when it went off, he didn't even open his eyes to answer it.

"Kev, tell me it's on," Dean said gruffly.

"Dean?" Amie's voice sounded tiny and far away.

Dean sat up so fast he felt lightheaded. "Amie? Where are you?" Dean threw a shoe at Sam, hitting him in the shoulder. Dean gestured to the phone, mouthing 'It's Amie' when Sam looked at him.

"I'm not sure. I tried pulling up the GPS on my phone before I called and it wouldn't work. I wasn't even sure I could call you." Dean heard her exhale. "It was an angel, Dean. Her name is Katarina. She's looking for Castiel. She thinks you'll give him to her in exchange for me."

Dean tried to concentrate, forcing himself to focus on finding Amie. He would deal with the angel once Amie was safe. "Describe where you are," Dean instructed her, putting her on speaker so Sam could hear.

"I'm in a room, nothing in it—no chairs, no bed, nothing, except a lot of trash, papers and stuff. I looked through some of them, but I couldn't find anything that would tell me where I am. There isn't a window. I can't hear anything going on outside of the room, no traffic sounds, no voices, it's quiet. Amie paused before continuing. "Door is heavy, probably metal reinforced. Definitely locked. I could probably pick the lock, but my kit is gone. So is my gun. I don't know how my phone got here, I didn't have it when the angel showed up, but it was sitting here next to me when I came to, so she must have grabbed it. I also don't have any shoes on, which just pisses me off.

Dean heard Amie exhale loudly. He couldn't help but smile. If Amie was pissed off, that was good. She was a bad ass when she was pissed. "Are you hurt?" he asked.

"No," she answered. "I'm fine. Not even a bump. I must have slept for a few hours, or at least that's how I feel."

"Alright. What's the password for your cell account?" Dean wrote it down as Amie gave it to him. "Kevin is going to turn on your GPS so we can find you. Don't turn off your phone."

"Okay. Look, I better go. I have no idea if someone is listening or not. Just hurry up and find me, okay? Oh, and bring my boots." Amie disconnected the call.

Sam had picked up his phone to call Kevin once Dean had Amie's password. "It's on," he said as he hung up. "He's sending me the link." He crossed the room to sit at the table with his laptop. Dean followed close behind.

"Amie said it was angels," Dean said as they waited. "Well, an angel. Her name is Katarina. She wants to know where Cas is and she thinks she can use Amie as leverage to get me to tell her."

Sam let out a low whistle. "Bad idea. But why would she leave Amie her phone? And let her call us? That doesn't make any sense."

Dean shrugged. "Who knows? Probably so we know they have her. If they want Cas, they need us to go to them and tell them where he is. They are using Amie to draw us to them. But I'm not giving them Cas, they can kiss my ass." Dean sighed in frustration. "You know, it's not like we don't have enough to worry about. Now I have to find and kill the angel that took the woman I lo…that took Amie." Dean glanced at Sam to see if his brother had noticed what he'd almost said out loud. Sam was quiet, so either he hadn't noticed or he was pretending he hadn't. Knowing Sam, it was probably the latter. Dean hoped so; he wasn't in the mood for questions about how he felt right now.

He was getting impatient. He could feel his anger and frustration growing every second he had to wait to get to Amie. Once Dean knew where she was, he could focus on getting there and getting her out. That would help him keep the need to kill at bay until he found the angel that had taken her. Then he could let his anger take over.

Just then, the link to locate Amie's phone popped up in Sam's email. He quickly opened it. "She's in Carthage," he said as he examined the map, a confused look crossing his face.

"What? She's here?" Dean looked over his brother's shoulder at the map Kevin had sent them. "You're joking, right?"

"No, I'm not," Sam turned to face him. "And Dean, she's at that warehouse. The one Price told us about."