Mathias pulled open the door of the rez police station a week later. He had only just walked into the building, when the woman sitting at the front desk suddenly drew his attention her way.
"Mathias!" Alesia held the phone out to him when his deep brown eyes met hers. "You have a call from the Cheyenne Patrol - an emergency regarding Deputy Isabel.
Mathias grew very serious at the mention of Isabel; body growing tense. Mathias took the phone from Alesia and held it up to his ear.
"Hello Jake." Mathias' face grew very concerned when Jake began freaking out on the other end. "Whoa, whoa, whoah, slow down - I mean it, Jake." Mathias chided, "slow down and tell me what's going on." Mathias let out a sigh of his own to calm down his agitated nerves while Jake informed him that Isabel's police car is abandoned in the deep backwoods not far from Lake McArthur and the abandoned house.
Mathias felt his face drain as Jake gave him the news. "Alright, I'm on my way. Just sit tight until I get up there - and don't do anything stupid!" Mathias handed the phone back to Alesia.
Mathias threw his police car into reverse then after backing up, shifted the gears into drive, flicked on the lights and raced up to Lake McArthur and the abandoned house. Mathias allowed his mind and heart to sync together and race together along with his driving.
Mathias had always kept a calm composure, but ever since he met Isabel the day she had escaped onto the Cheyenne reservation from escaping her ex, Claira's sperm donor of a "father," Mathias vowed to protect the daughter of the woman who unknowingly captured his heart the day he put the worthless sleezeball in his place, going as far as breaking bones - whether his or Isabel's ex; Isabel need only ask him, and Mathias would capitulate to her request.
Time flew by fast during his speedy driving from the reservation to the deep, thick, eerie backwoods, not that Mathias cared, either, as he shifted the gears of his police car into park the second his eyes locked onto Isabel Houlihan's abandoned police car; eyes shifting up to the abandoned house perched on the hill overlooking the lake. Beside Isabel's abandoned police car, Jake's tall, lanky form leaned against the patrol truck parked only a foot away.
Mathias had only just put his own police car in park, when Jake appeared as he opened the door. Mathias took in the fear and realization so visibly painted all over the young man's facial features. Mathias felt his own gut twist as the history about the abandoned house and Lake McArthur came crashing back into his memory. But Mathias was also rational and evidence-seeking, his disciplined mindset forbidding him from going along with his gut instinct until he found solid evidence to prove the facts his wrenched gut was already telling him. That wasn't hard to do, as his brown eyes took in the scene that lay before him, darting around to every piece of evidence that lay out in the open while he inspectedly walked around the length of Isabel's abandoned car. His brown eyes darted to the ground and hardened when he spotted the set of giant boot prints behind the smaller set of shoe prints near the front driver's side door.
"Go home, Jake." Mathias ordered while darting his eyes between the boot prints and the front driver's seat.
"I'm not leaving you alone out here." Jake argued. "It's too dangerous." Jake was not too keen about the idea of Mathias not having back up, voicing as much.
"You have a little girl, Jake." As Mathias armed himself when he returned to his police car, he pointed out, "a daughter needs her father.
"So do you." Jake moved to block Mathia's path when the police chief was about to start walking, caring so little about the displeased look in Mathias' eyes. "You have always told me how much Claira and Isabel mean to you; Val even calling you her son now. How do you think Val and Claira will feel if you disappear just like Isabel?" Jake watched the wheels in Mathias' head turn while letting his words sink in.
"You even told me you're falling in love with Isabel." Jake pressed. "I would think Isabel would want the man she's in love with to return to her mother and daughter safely; unscathed, the Lord forbid." Jake realized the error or his words when Mathias' attention snapped back into full focus.
Mathias' interest was piqued when he heard Jake tell him Isabel fell in love with him. He let out a defeated sigh, knowing Val would indeed give him a tongue lashing if he got very hurt. "Fine." Mathias gave Jake a very hard look. "Stay close."
Mathias briskly walked up the paved road that turned into dirt and gravel, Jake at his heels. He knew he and Jake had stepped over the edge of town and into the outskirts when he heard the crunch of gravel underfoot. "Stay very close." Mathias' command was barely above a whisper as he drew his firearm, growing tense and even more on guard.
After walking for twenty to thirty minutes, he and Jake came to a fork in the road, one gravel road led downhill to the lake, the other gravel road led uphill at a slight slant toward the abandoned house. Mathias and Jake glanced up at the hill and got a bit of a view of the abandoned house: shingled dome roof caved in on one side, cracked timber framing, wood siding became wood rot in various places from the wattle and daub rotting away. Windows had been broken in, glass shards long since blown away.
Mathias and Jake simultaneously turned their gaze west to take in the tall, green foliage once they ascended to the top of the hill.
For about half a mile Mathias and Jake trekked through the tall green foliage before stepping out onto sand in the open. The tall trees formed a big circle with a stone altar in the center. Upon closer inspection, the waist high altar had a very dark sapphire gem inlaid in the stone in the four corners; each about the size of his fist. The sapphires were cool to the touch, but a low hum of energy vibrated against his palm.
Jake watched Mathias grimace when his brown eyes darkened when he saw the altar itself was stained with the blood of whatever the Ancestors used as a sacrifice. Mathias reached his hand out further towards the top and saw a blue light shimmer when his hand bumped against some sort of gateway.
"What do you think?" Jake asked curiously while Mathias examined the shimmering gateway and stone altar with a critical eye.
"We're going to need extra help before we go any further."
"Further?" Jake asked out of confusion. "What has you thinking that?"
Mathias turned his eyes to the deep woods behind Jake and after adjusting his standing position, Mathias made out a glimmer of a chimney through the trees.
"Whoever took Isabel lives in the house in the woods behind you."
"How far away is the house?"
Mathias glanced back up through the tree branches to look at the chimney again. "About a football field's length."
"Whoever took Isabel must've wanted to keep close to that eerie altar, but at the same time, keep a good distance so people like us wouldn't go looking."
"Indeed." Mathias turned and trekked back to the vehicles.
"Do you know who would dare take Isabel?" Jake matched Mathias' brisk walking.
"I have an idea." Mathias replied bitterly.
"Who?"
"Her sleezeball of an ex." Mathias' reply was even more bitter.
"What now?" Jake asked as he and Mathias descended down the hill.
"We're going to inform Val and Walt of Isabel's disappearance."