Brittany was falling asleep as she sat on the floor, leaning against the wall. She shook her head once she realized that and stood up to pace.
"Hey, you need to relax. The bed is comfy lay down," Kiara ordered.
"No...I can't sleep, Kiara...I just can't," she said, not looking at her.
"What's wrong?" Kiara asked. She sat Brittany down on the bed, then sat beside her.
"It's just...every time I close my eyes...I see Ponch back in the van...just lying there, hurting..And my mind is thinking of what might be happening to him now...I'm scared, Kiara..." she said, tears slowly sliding down her face. Kiara pulled out some tissues and began to dry Brittany's tears.
"Don't cry, I'm sure he's okay. Maybe he's just resting like you are," she said.
"They wouldn't just hold us hostage in a room..." she muttered.
"Well maybe for the first night they will. Then We'll be okay and saved before they try anything," Kiara said.
"How...nobody even knows where we are..." Brittany told her.
"Well, someone isn't very optimistic," Kiara said quietly. Brittany only shook her head and went to lay down. She faced away from the door. "Look, Brittany, I know you are worried. I know you're upset. The truth is I'm ticked off at them too. But just because we are stuck in here. And not knowing what the hell is going on out there doesn't mean we have to lay around and mope. Brittany, we need to stay positive. Optimism is what has helped Ponch make it through stuff like this. We need to try, please."
She only nodded. "I'm tired...so I guess I should sleep a little..." she muttered, her eyes closing.
"Okay, sleep well," Kiara said then sat up against the wall staring at the door. In about a minute, there were soft snores coming from Brittany as she slept.
oOoOo
Jon laid Ponch down on the bed that was in their room. Their room was set up the same way as Brittany and Kiara's. Ponch was trying to wake up. Ponch move a little. His eyelids slowly fluttered open.
"J-J-Jon?"
"Yeah, Ponch. It's me, buddy," he said with a slight smile. Ponch smiled a little.
"H-H-Hi…"
"Hey," Jon was a little bit relaxed now that Ponch was awake.
"W-W-Where are...w-w-we?"
"I don't know, exactly. All I know, the bad guys locked us in this room, and the girls in another room," Jon told him.
"The girls? I t-t-thought it was...was just K-K-Kiara…"
"Uhm...Well..." Jon started, unsure on how to tell Ponch his wife was kidnapped as well.
"Who's the other…"
"I'm really sorry, Ponch.." was all he could say. Jon blinked back the tears that started to form.
"B-B-Brittany?" Ponch guessed. Jon nodded. Ponch tried to sit up. The sudden movement hurt him. He cried out in pain. "J-J-Jon...make it stop!" he screamed. He pushed him back down to a laying position.
"Don't sit up, Ponch," he said.
oOoOo
Brittany startled awake at the scream. Kiara had also heard it. She rushed to the door and started banging on it.
"Let us out, please! We need to help him!" she cried. Brittany stood up and walked over, a little wobbly since she was still half-asleep.
"Calm down, Kiara. They won't let us go to him..." she said, sniffling a little. She recognized the scream, and tears started to form again.
"Brittany, I know that scream. Ponch is hurting," Kiara said.
"Don't you think I know that?!" she cried, letting go of Kiara since she had her in a one-armed hug. She stared tearfully at Kiara, her lower-lip trembling a little.
"Sorry, I know you know that. Brittany I'm scared, okay!?" Kiara snapped. She then went back to her spot by the wall. She slowly slid down to the floor. She hugged her knees to her chest then laid her head down and began to sob quietly. Brittany didn't go to comfort her because she was a little upset right now. Instead, she curled up as best she could in a corner far from her and cried silently. She stared at the floor.
Back at the station..
"I haven't heard a thing from Kiara since three," Logan told Jolene. Jolene sighed.
"Brittany isn't answering her phone, or her cell phone. She always answers her cell phone. I'm really worried, Logan.." she said.
"I know. I hate to do it, but we need to talk to the captain."
Jolene nodded. Logan led her to the captain's office. He hesitated before raising his hand to knock.
"How 'bout you knock," he said shoving her closer to the door. Jolene rolled her eyes and knocked on the door. They heard the muffled 'come in' response so she opened the door and pushed Logan inside and followed him in. Logan gave her 'the look' of which was just a glare that they never had to look at the person to know they were glaring they could feel it. Jolene sighed at his antics and looked at the captain.
"Captain, three officers went missing..and we are starting to get worried. Brittany isn't answering her cell phone at all.." she said.
"Maybe she's busy?" the captain wondered. "And I know about the three missing officers. Getraer told me about it," he added.
"She always answers her cell phone. Even if she's busy..."
"Oh dang it we could've talked to Sarge," Logan said quietly. Then smiled nervously at the captain. Jolene rolled her eyes and continued.
"Yeah, doesn't it seem weird that three officers went missing, and now another one who's off-duty and always answers, all of the sudden doesn't it seem weird?" she asked. The captain thought about it for a while and nodded.
"It does indeed seem suspicious. Alright..go see if she's alright and if she's not at home, search for her but don't take too long. I'll go talk to Getraer," he said, standing up and leading them out of the room.
"Okay, where do ya wanna look first, JoJo?" Logan asked. Then smiled slightly. "I mean, Jolene."
"It's fine. You can call me JoJo.." she laughed. "Well, like Captain said...check to see if she's home first," she added.
"Okay, let's go," Logan said. They head out to their bikes and take off to Brittany's home.
oOoOo
They arrived at the Poncherello home and it looked like no one was home. Logan went to knock on the door anyway. The door opened a little too easily. Jolene blinked, stepped in quietly.
"Well, she probably left in a rush," Jolene said. Then she heard the police scanner that was still turned up. "Oh no," she said.
"What?" Logan asked coming into the house with Jolene.
"I bet Brittany heard Sarge telling dispatch that Ponch, Jon, and Kiara were missing...and she went to find them," she told him, turning to go turn down the radio.
"Well that's a believable thought," Logan said. She nodded.
"I hope the kidnappers didn't get her too..." Jolene said as the two left the house and closed the door and locked it with the spare key Brittany was always telling them about in the flower plants beside the porch.
"Well what to do we do now, Detective JoJo?"
"Well, obviously, we search around and see if we can find her," Jolene said, as if it were obvious.
"Okay, let's get going. We should let Getraer and Captain Burke know first though."
"We should probably search around first...that way we won't get told the same thing Burke said earlier..." she said, putting on her helmet and mounting her bike. Logan did the same. He admired how well Jolene was handling this. Since it was his first case ever on a kidnapping, he wasn't all that familiar with what was needed to be done.
"We should probably start with her usual routes when she's off-duty, which will be hard, considering we're not Ponch or Jon..." Jolene said. "Oooh, maybe Jason knows," she added, reaching for her mic.
"Good idea," Logan said. He was very close with Jason so the idea of having him join was a huge relief to him.
"7 Mary 7, Mary 8. Can you 10-9 over to Brittany's house? Me and Logan need your help with something," she asked.
"10-4. I'll be over there in 10 minutes," came Jason's reply. Logan stood beside his motorbike and waited. Jason pulled up next to them ten minutes later.
"What did you need help with?" he asked.
"Well, Brittany's missing. She probably heard the police scanner when Sarge told dispatch about Ponch, Jon, and Kiara being missing and went to look from them. I'm hoping she wasn't kidnapped as well. We were going to check her usual routes she uses when she's not heading to the station...but we don't know them. I'm hoping you do.." she explained. Jason smiled.
"Yeah. I know her routes," he said.
"Good! Help us please," Logan practically begged. He laughed, and Jolene just chuckled.
"I will," Jason said. "Before she was pregnant, she always jogged a little at the park..Now she usually just sits on the bench when it's nice out and reads a book.." he added. Jolene, realizing something, gasped.
"Uhm...guys?" she asked. "Were their families informed that they're missing?"
"I volunteer to call no one," Logan said. Jason punched him in the arm.
"Come on, Logan. If you're going to be a CHP, you have to learn to do even the hard stuff. You can call Jim and Jean Reed."
"Dang it! Okay," Logan said. He then rode off to a quiet place then pulled out his cell phone and called the Reed home.
Jean picked up when she heard the phone ring. "Hello?" she said.
"Hi, is this Jean?"
"Uhm...Yes.. May I ask who is calling?" she asked, worry lacing her voice.
"Oh, sorry. This is Officer Logan Hanson from the California Highway Patrol Central division," came his reply.
"Is something wrong with Brittany?" she asked. Usually, they just call Brittany instead of her, so them calling her worried her.
"Well, we can't find Brittany. Earlier today three CHP officers went missing. Officers Baker, Nelson, and...uh Poncherello...Brittany heard it over the radio. We suspect she went looking for them...we can't find Brittany," Logan said. He regretted being the one to tell Jean.
Jean gasped, her hand flying to her mouth. "W-What? Oh no...Jim's not going to be very happy...he and Pete are on duty at the moment so I can't tell him yet..." she said, her voice breaking in the middle of her sentence.
"Hey, calm down Mrs. Reed. Everything will be okay. We're going to contact LAPD soon anyway," Logan said.
"Well...okay...if it's Jim who you talk to...just be sure to have the earpiece away from your ear when you tell him, okay?" she warned him.
"Yeah, okay. I will, thanks for the warning Mrs. Reed," he replied.
"You're welcome. Hope you find Brittany and the missing officers.." she said before hanging up the phone. Logan hung up then went back to Jason and JoJo.
"Okay, I told Jean. Jim is on patrol right now. So when we talk to LAPD we should talk to him and Pete," Logan said. Jolene nodded.
"From stories I heard from Brittany...they aren't going to be very happy to hear she's missing as well...Especially her dad," Jolene said.
"Who would be happy? Anyway, I think they're even more worried since she's six and a half months pregnant," Logan replied. He looked at Jolene. "You ready to get back to work, JoJo?"
She shook her head. "No, we have to make sure family is informed first. Let's head over to LAPD station to see if Jim and Pete are there."
"Okay, who's going to talk to Kyle and Ian Nelson? Ya know, Kiara's family…" Logan asked. He knew he'd dread being the one to tell that to Kiara's husband and three year old boy.
"I will," Jason said. "Good luck on telling Jim and Pete," he adds as he took off to tell Kiara's family. Jolene sighed.
"Ready to go?" she asked Logan.
"I guess...I guess you get to call Mr. and Mrs. Poncherello," he said. He mounted his bike and rode off before she could protest. Jolene laughed and rode off after him.