Chapter 3
Slowly Steve's spirits returned to him, his head was pounding and his mouth was dry. He had no idea what had happened. The last thing he could remember was that after going to bed, he had gone downstairs once more to drink a glass of water, after that everything was black. Slowly he opened his eyes, he found himself in a room without windows, where only a skylight let in some daylight. The air was hot and stuffy and Steve was already drenched in sweat. His shorts and muscle shirt stuck to his body. He himself was tied to a metal chair and could hardly move. Searchingly, he looked around; he was alone.
Where was Mel?
Hopefully she hadn't been kidnapped too and she was okay. Steve's heart was pounding at the thought that something might have happened to his fiancée. He cursed himself for letting them take him by surprise, but he didn't even know how they had managed to stun him. He knew only one thing, he had to get out of here and find Mel.
Mel's odyssey ended at one of those little airports from where you could fly to one of the other islands. Her tears had dried up, but she still felt she had to get away. Somewhere where she wouldn't be reminded of Steve.
She parked the Mustang, grabbed her backpack and bag, and bought a plane ticket. Basically, she didn't care where it went, just that it couldn't be Maui.
An hour later, Mel got off the small plane again. Surprised, she realized that this island was so different from O'ahu or Maui. At the next car rental she took a Jeep Rubicon pop-top camper, in which one could also sleep, and just drove off.
She had already driven a nice distance in the Jeep, so she remembered that she could use some more food and water. Mel stopped at the next small store and entered it, when suddenly a smell got into her nose and she felt sick. She quickly ran back outside and threw up in the nearest trash can. Pale, she wiped her mouth with a paper handkerchief.
Oh great, now all the stress had hit her stomach too. Mel took a deep breath and started a second attempt. With canned food and water, she left the store again shortly after and stowed everything in the car. Then she drove a bit more and looked for a place to spend the night. She found a place a little higher up where she had a nice view over the sea, unfolded the top and lay down so she could see over the sea.
Slowly, ever so slowly, something in her calmed down again and her mind switched on. Sure, the words she had read still hurt. But were they really Steve's words? And why hadn't he said it to her face last night? But just disappeared overnight?
What was she actually doing here? With all that she had experienced so far, she had never, never fled. A headache appeared and Mel rubbed the scar on her face in annoyance. She was probably just tired of fighting, but wasn't Steve worth fighting for? Her head and her heart agreed, and Mel pulled her cell phone out of her back pocket and turned it on. Then, when her phone started beeping frantically in her hand, she almost dropped it in shock. Countless missed calls from Danny appeared on the display. Mel ignored them and dialed Steve's number. She was afraid of what he might say, yet she had to at least try. But she had worried about words for nothing, her call landed immediately on the box. Slowly, the feeling crept up on her that something was very wrong here, and she was annoyed that she had just driven away.
She sighed and dialed Danny's number.
"Mel, thank God! Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Have you heard from Steve? I can't get a hold of him. He ... He has ...," she just couldn't get the words out.
"I know. But Mel, that wasn't Steve. The letter is fake, forensics just confirmed it. You know him, he would never leave you. We suspect he was kidnapped and taken out of the country." Mel slapped her hands over her mouth.
"Oh my God. Danny. And I'm running away like a chicken with its head cut off. Why didn't I realize that right away?"
Tears came to her eyes again.
"Hey, you were in shock, it's okay to overreact."
"But that's not me. What do you have so far?"
"Not much yet, unfortunately. The cameras in your corner have been down for days. The HPD found Steve's car at a small airport outside Honolulu, so we're assuming Steve was taken away by plane. Unfortunately, the car has no usable tracks. Catherine has had information leaked to her that a Navy Seal is being held in Afghanistan. However, we have no confirmation yet that it is Steve."
Mel swallowed. Steve was in danger, and instead of looking for him, she was sitting in the sticks, sulking.
"Mel?"
"Yeah."
"Stop it."
"Stop what?"
"Blaming you. Like all of us, we probably would have reacted just like you did if we'd gotten a letter like that."
"Maybe. I should have known better, though, Danny."