Arthur finished what he was doing and opened his office door.

"Where has that man of mine got to? I bet he's standing watching those ducks again. I'll have my coffee now if you don't mind"

Lance grinned at his boss. "You know how he likes the ducks you wait if you ever get that house in the country bet you end up with a lake"

"Not if I have my way we won't"

Arthur sat back down and Lance came in with the coffee just as Arthur's mobile rang. Getting it out of his pocket he looked at the message and his face paled "No No"

He stood as if he was in shock and began to shake. Lance looked and then took the phone from his bosses hand and looked at the message.

"You have recently parted me from my partner for a long period of time. You will lose yours for the same length of time".

Lance immediately turned to Arthur

"I will call the police" picking up the desk phone and dialled 999 and give the relevant information to the operator.

He then rang the front desk and asked them to expect the police to arrive and to send them straight to the office.

Within 5 minutes the police arrived it was someone who Lance recognised. Lance quickly explained what had happened and gave them Arthur's phone. All this time Arthur hadn't moved.

"Arthur its Oswain do you know who could have sent this"

Arthur looked up of the first time "It was sent from Merlin's mobile" Arthur blinked a few times and became more with it. "Who the hell has him?"

Lance left the room and went out to his phone and rang the direct Leon's office and asked his to come straight away without giving details. As Arthur's best friend and a partner to Arthur's sister he thought it best to get him there as soon as he could. Leon was also the junior partner in the practice.

Leon came straight away and Lance quickly explained what had happened. Leon went straight in to support his brother in law.

The police had already arranged for Merlin's route to be searched after checking that Merlin had left his office as planned and where taking details from Arthur of the cases he had recently been involved in. As well as the recent case he had had several high profile cases that year that had resulted in conviction. Leon put his hand on Arthurs shoulder "They will get him back Arthur, I will ring Morgana and let her know"

Oswain turned to Leon "Just keep it to close family for now please. Does Merlin have any close family?"

"Just his Mother in Wales although he does have two very close friends who should be told…..Oh my god what do I tell his mother" Arthur was totally shocked by the whole thing. He couldn't believe that someone would target Merlin for something he had no involvement in.

"If you get her details I will get the local police to let her know and arrange for her to come to London. I am going to keep this phone for the moment if you don't mind you will get it back soon".

"What if they try to get back to me with it, I need to keep it" Arthur had started to think things through.

"Well for the moment I would like you all to come down with me to the station so we can get your statements and we can sort it out then".

With that they all left to go down to the station where they were met by several senior police officers. Morgana arrived before they left and demanded to be told what was going on. On hearing the news she immediately went to her brothers side.

Merlin woke up sometime later he was blindfolded, gagged and his ankles were tied together and his wrists were also tied behind his back. He tried to move but got a kick in his ribs for his troubles. "Just keep still and we won't have to kick you again" a voice snarled. "Once we get where we are going we will give you some water if you're good"

Merlin could feel bumps and knew he was in a vehicle of some kind but he couldn't see a thing. Realising he couldn't move he kept still. He wondered what was happening and why he had been taken. Surely it must be a case of mistaken identity who after all would want him. He ached all over and when they hit bumps in the road it hurt his hips and shoulder. After hitting a particularly bad bump his head hit the floor of the vehicle and he felt no more as he lapsed into unconsciousness.

Later that evening Arthur and the others left the police station and were gathered at Arthur and Merlin's penthouse apartment. Hunith, Merlin's mother had arrived just before they left the station and after answering a few questions she had come back to stay with Arthur. No trace had been found of Merlin several of the CITV cameras hadn't been working in the park so although he was seen entering they had no idea when and how he had be kidnapped. Morgana was trying to get Hunith and Arthur to get some rest but was having no luck. Leon told him to cancel all of Arthur's appointments until further notice and all of his for the next day and to keep them to a minimum for the rest of the week.

The police had set up roadblocks and informed the airports and ports and were checking all the cases that Arthur had been involved in. But at the moment had found nothing to help identify who was involved. Morgana and Leon were going to stay the night at the apartment to offer all the support they could. They had let their close friends know so they would not hear the news first from the television. They had all been very upset and had offered any help and support they could.

The van Merlin was in stopped after awhile but Merlin was not removed. Once he had woken he was given a drink of water and then left alone. He still had no idea where he was or how much time had passed since his walk across the park. Every so often he was given a drink of water and at one stage was feed a sandwich. But no more than a couple of words were spoken to him. Thinking he was on his own he tried to move to work out where he was but was promptly kicked once more the pain nearly made him pass out. He as sure he felt a rib crack and decided it wasn't worth the pain to try again each breath was painful. He last all track of time at some stage when his gag was removed and he was given a drink of he asked to be about to go to the loo and was told to do it in his pants. He felt so humiliated but in the end had no choice. He felt wet and uncomfortable and after awhile began to smell. After what he thought was a couple of days the van was on the move once more. When it stopped the next time he was taken out of the van and thrown onto a concrete floor. A chain was put through the rope at held his hands and also around his ankles and he was chained to a pillar of some sort and given some water and bread to eat and left once more. He heard a door shut and it sounded empty as the sound of the door echoed. He tried to make himself comfortable but had very limited success. He was cold, tired, hungry and scared.

Meanwhile the police were having no luck in finding out what had happened. Once the news had been put out in the media several newspapers and TV stations had asked for interviews and a typed response was given. With the hour Arthur was surprised to hear from his father. Utter had not spoken to him in the 4 years he had been together with Merlin. Morgana took the phone from her brother and was about to start yelling at him when Uther offered a further sum as a reward and offered any support he could saying that families should stick together in times of problems and that he wished to renew contact with his family. Arthur refused to talk to him and Morgana told her father that they would accept the reward money but that Arthur needed more time. Uther seemed to accept this and rang off. The reward now stood at one million pounds for information leading to the recovery of Merlin.

Uther was seen on TV supporting his family at this time he also put pressure on the police to put as many resources as required into the case. As an MP he felt that this might help, but at this stage there was little else anyone could do. They police checked out the friends and relatives of all of the people that Arthur had helped put away in the past year and searched all known properties belonging to them. There was no sign anywhere. Even the large reward brought no information forward. Interpol were involved as there was a thought that Merlin may have been sold to the sex trade but there was no sign he had left the country.

Arthur was becoming more and more despondent and angry and spent as much time as he could in trying to do his own investigations. He blamed himself for what had happened. Gwaine had given up his job and was using his savings to spend time in the sex slave countries looking for his friend. Arthur was sending him money to help. But still no trace was found. Then six months after Merlin had been taken Arthur received another message from Merlin's mobile. He blanched before looking at it.