The next morning
Marcus made breakfast while Shari was still sleeping and took a tray up to her. "Here eat," he told her sternly knowing how she was feeling with Mikkel's missing.
"I'm not hungry," Shari protested, shoving the tray away.
"Shari, you're not going to do Mikkel or yourself any good if you don't keep up your strength," Marcus told her. "What do you think Mikkel would say if he found you neglecting yourself like this? He'd be angry at you and he would tell you worrying about him to the extent that you're neglecting your own health; is a very bad thing."
Shari sighed and began to eat slowly then said, "I'm not doing this for my sake I'm doing it for his," she told Marcus.
Suddenly the doorbell rang and Shari looked up. "That's probably Quinn and Lisa. Quinn did say that they would be catching the earliest morning flight they could get," she said. Marcus nodded and headed downstairs to answer it.
Shari finished breakfast and got up to get dressed. She heard voices downstairs and headed for the den where they were coming from. She found Quinn and Marcus discussing options. "We need to check the school," Lisa suggested. "Talk to his friends and his baseball coach and anybody who might have seen something."
"But he could have been taken out of state," Shari pointed out, join the conversation.
"If he has been then it's going to be harder to find him, but not impossible," said Marcus.
"Every minute we waste is a minute that Seth could do something awful to him," said Lisa.
"We don't necessarily know its Seth at this point," Marcus pointed out. "All we have is our instincts, but no proof."
"Well, it's our job to find proof one way or the other," Quinn said grimly. "Besides, I trust your instincts more then any proof. Proof can be falsified—instincts however, are harder to fool."
"Everybody is praying for Mikkel to be found if not unharmed at least alive," said Shari.
"Let's get to it and talk to the principal at the school then his friends," said Marcus, rising.
He didn't even suggest Shari stay here, because he knew she needed to feel as if she was doing something not just pacing and worrying. Feeling as if she was doing something would be a way to control the fear and the worry she had—that they all had for the boy who had worked his way into all their hearts.
~~~The Kidnapping~~~
"So you say Mikkel is missing?" asked the principal. "How do you know it was by foul play?" They had all walked to the office after they had parked and Marcus had calmly as asked to see Principal Hanes. The secretary had been startled at the four people's appearance, but had complied, when she recognized Marcus and Shari. The secretary had shown then into Hanes office a minute later and all four had taken seats, without have to be asked.
"We don't know for sure Mr. Hanes," said Marcus "At least not yet, but did you know that Mikkel has an older brother who has been in prison? He got out three months ago and I have a suspicion that the brother had something to do with Mikkel's disappearance. That's the reason we want to question the baseball coach and his friends see if they know or saw anything."
"They would have reported it," Hanes pointed out.
"Not if they were afraid to," said Quinn. "Or if they didn't necessarily know anything was wrong. Seth would have wanted as few witnesses as possible to the kidnapping. And that person—if anybody saw it—might not have realized what was happening."
"All right, I'll tell Coach Maxwell to expect you. But please be as discreet as possible there's no need to frighten the children unnecessarily."
Marcus nodded and he and the others got up to leave. "You okay?" he asked Shari when they were outside walking across the grass toward the baseball field. Shari had been quiet, quieter then normal and it worried him almost as much as the disappearance of Mikkel.
"I'm fine, I was just thinking if only we had known this was coming we could have prevented it from happening."
"Shari, look at me," said Marcus taking a hold of her shoulders and turning her gently to face him. "This is not your fault. This is nobody's fault—not yours—not mine—not anybody's. You keep blaming yourself for what happened, but the truth is, we probably could have done nothing to prevent it from happening—even if we had known about it. We need to concentrate now on locating him, on finding him alive."
Shari nodded still not wholly convinced in wasn't her fault in some way, but for Mikkel's sake she tried to turn her thoughts to finding him. She nodded and the two of them followed Quinn and Lisa out to the baseball field.
~~~The Kidnapping~~~
"Yes may I help you?" asked the coach who was sitting in his office doing what looked like paperwork.
"Principal Hanes called and said we were coming to ask you a few questions," said Marcus poking his head in the door to the office. He had decided that one person to ask the questions was better then having all four of them seeming as if they were ganging up on him. Quinn and Lisa and Shari had gone to question some of Mikkel's friends.
"Um yes," said Maxwell putting his paperwork aside. "Why don't you come have a seat Mr. O'Malley?"
"Have you seen Mikkel at all yesterday?"
"I did in the morning when I told him we were having an extra baseball practice to try to get ready for the big game. He assured me he would be there, but he never showed. That in itself if very unusual. He never misses practices unless he is sick and that has only happened twice that I can remember."
"Yes, I know," said Marcus with a weary smile. "He had the flu one time—a very bad case of it, he couldn't get out of bed for days he was so weak—and that drove an active boy like him nearly crazy with boredom. And now he's missing."
"Any idea who could have done it?" asked Maxwell.
"Oh, I have an idea or two," said Marcus. "I won't go into who I suspect right now, because I have no proof. It wouldn't be ethical to accuse someone without proof."
"I hope you find him he is one of the most talented players I've seen come through this school in years I would hate to lose him," the coach said.
"And I would hate to lose a son, as it is just his disappearance is nearly tearing the family apart—if he was killed it wouldn't just be trying to tear us apart it would very likely succeed. We all love Mikkel. You sure none of your students have said anything to you?" Marcus asked again.
The coach thought for a minute then said, "Now that you mention it, Toby did mention yesterday that he saw this man with Mikkel. Mikkel went along with him so Toby assumed he was a member of the family."
"What did he look like?" asked Marcus suddenly switching mental gears. He got out a sketch pad as Maxwell began to describe him.
"Well he had dirty blond hair—longish and brown eyes. Toby only caught a side profile not the full face. He had a scar on one cheek and high cheekbones."
"Is that him?" asked Marcus, showing the coach the picture he had drawn.
"Yes that's him," said the coach, "A very good likeness. You could have been an artist instead of a U.S. Marshal."
"I competent in the basics," Marcus corrected then said, "Who you just described is Mikkel's older brother who probably kidnapped Mikkel for revenge. He's been in prison the last few years and now he's out and he has Mikkel. Thank you for your time." Marcus left anxious to find Quinn and find out what he had come up with and whether it was the same as he had.
~~~The Kidnapping~~~
"So what did you find?" Marcus asked Quinn as he joined them.
"I talked to one boy—" Quinn consulted his notes, "—Toby? He said he saw this man, but only a side view. Longish brownish-blond hair, brown eyes, a scar on one cheek . . ."
"Is this him?" asked Marcus showing Quinn his sketch.
"That's him," said Quinn. "He looks familiar for some reason."
"He looks familiar, because he looks like Mikkel. This is Seth, his brother. You've never met him, but he is one of the meanest people I've come across in my twenty-seven years as a U.S. Marshal."
"So we were right it was Mikkel's brother that took him," said Quinn.
Shari had been trying to keep her hopes up that they would find Mikkel within a few days at most. Now it was beginning to look more and more hopeless. She tried to remain calm and suddenly just as he was going to lose it she felt a peace come over her and she drank it in grateful beyond words for it.
"He probably held a knife to his throat and threatened to slash his veins if he didn't," Quinn suggested.
"Who knows he might even have been watching your house for weeks," Lisa suggested. "And maybe he threatened to harm one of the younger children if he didn't cooperate."
"It's possible," said Marcus, not liking the idea one bit. "He loves Davey and the triplets like a brother should. He's very protective of them. If Seth made such a threat . . . I can see him obeying in order to protect them. If anything happened to any of the younger children, his life—at least to him—wouldn't matter."
"Now, all we have to do is question the people in the neighborhood and hope someone saw something," said Quinn.
He was as worried as Marcus and Shari were and like them he was fighting despair. Would they ever find the boy they had all come to love? This was barely the first day of the search—they just had to hope and pray or all was lost.
~~~The Kidnapping~~~
"They have to be out of Virginia," said Quinn. "For one thing, even Seth wouldn't be stupid enough to keep him in the same state with an APB out on him—and every cop out looking for him. And for another we've checked every lead and we've come up dry except for one witness seeing a car matching the description of a stolen vehicle that he saw in the neighborhood of the school on that day. It was heading out-of-state and towards any one of a dozen cities." It was several days later and they had checked every lead that had come there way but the trail was fast becoming cold.
"We need a break people or we may be to late," said Marcus. "It'll take time to locate that car again and he could abandon it and steal another one, which will make it harder."
"What's our next move?" asked Shari.
"Our next move is we inform the cops of every city within a thousand mile radius of the direction they were last seen heading and ask then to keep an eye out for both Mikkel and Seth," said Marcus.
The other nodded agreement and they went on discussing plans for the next hour until Marcus ordered everyone to get a good night's sleep for they had a big day tomorrow.
"If only Mikkel was in a position to get a call out to us," said Shari as they headed up to bed.
"His brother is probably watching him every second," said Marcus. "If he could have got a call out without Seth knowing he would have—and still can if Seth ever lets his guard down."
~~~The Kidnapping~~~
"So Seth hasn't been to see you for his last three appointments?" Marcus asked Daniel McDonald Seth's parole officer. They were sitting in McDonald's office. McDonald himself was a relatively young man with red hair and freckles splashed across his nose. He wore glasses and a shirt with a collar. A coat was slung over the back of the chair. He sat with arms crossed in front of him a serious look on his face.
"No, not for almost three weeks. I should have known I suppose that Seth would pull something like this," said McDonald. "I'm an ex-con myself I know the type. And Seth is a mean sucker if you know what I mean. I could see it in his eyes that he had plans that didn't involve being good, getting a job and putting his record behind him."
"You suspected this might happen and you never said anything?" asked Quinn in amazement shaking his head.
"I only had suspicions Mr. Diamond nothing more. Suspicions aren't really enough to go to the proper authorities about."
"He's right," said Marcus. "We don't have to like it, but he's right. If he had no proof there was nothing he could do—at least not legally."
Quinn sighed and nodded, he knew they were both right.
"You sure Seth never said what his plans were?" asked Marcus.
"I'm afraid not, he never said much of anything except to make some snide comments," said McDonald. "I hope you find the boy. And I hope you find Seth. As much as I hate to admit it the justice system failed with that one, it did. The system's not perfect we all know that," said McDonald with a shrug.
"Nothing is," said Marcus, "Except God."
~~~The Kidnapping~~~
Marcus and Quinn left McDonald's office and walked to the car.
"Well, that was a lot of help," said Quinn. "He doesn't know what Seth plans or where he could take Mikkel and if Seth never discussed his plans . . ."
"Were you really expecting anything less?" asked Marcus.
"No I suppose not, but this time it's family that's missing not some stranger. With family it's different."
"I know, I'm as worried as you are. Shari and I both love that boy. To know he was kidnapped and I wasn't there to prevent it . . . It's tearing me up inside," Marcus admitted.
"I can only imagine how you must feel being his father. I mean, I'm only his uncle and yet I feel like strangling Seth with my bare hands . . ." Quinn said wringing his hand in a way to suggest strangling someone.
"I know I feel the same, but right now, we need to concentrate on finding him and praying we find him alive," said Marcus.
"It's hard to pray at a time like this. It almost reminds me of when my father was murdered. I couldn't pray for weeks afterwards," Quinn mused.
"I know," said Marcus. "I know."
~~~The Kidnapping~~~
A week passed and they were following every lead they could—barely sleeping it seemed when one day Marcus's cell phone rang, "Marcus here, talk to me."
"Dad; help me!" the voice on the other end of the line sounded desperate.
"Mikkel where are you?" asked Marcus, feeling hope for the first time in a week.
"Chicago, I don't know precisely the area—we move around every few days. Looks like warehouses at the moment." He stopped and listened for a minute to the sounds of his brother's snores. It sounded like he was about to wake up. "I've got to go Seth is waking up. Please hurry dad." There was a click on the other end of the line and Marcus's phone went dead.
Marcus sighed. He knew Mikkel had probably taken a great risk to try to call him with his brother just in the next room but it gave them the one lead they hadn't had before—the destination. Now that they had a destination, Chicago watch out here come the O'Malleys.
~~~The Kidnapping~~~
"Shari," Marcus called as he headed upstairs where she was supposed to be "resting." Supposed to be and were, were two totally different concepts however.
"Yes?" asked Shari who was lying propped up on the bed several pillows behind her head. She looked as tired and worn as he felt. But she was holding up like a trooper and they both tried to keep hoping Mikkel would be found. She wasn't sleeping well, but then neither was he or anyone else in the family for that matter.
"How fast can you pack?" Marcus asked.
"Why?" asked Shari, trying not to sound hopeful.
"Because we are going to Chicago," said Marcus. "That was Mikkel on the phone. He told me what city he was in, but was unable to tell me much else except to hurry. He was very afraid Seth would kill him. You could hear it in his voice, although he never said as much."
"I can pack pretty fast," said Shari getting up from the bed with lightning speed. "Why hasn't he called us before now?"
"Remember what we discussed a few days ago? That Seth was probably keeping too close an eye on him or keeping him tied up. Seth isn't one where trust is easily won. Mikkel said he was sleeping at the moment and that they move around every few days in order so nobody get suspicious."
"Yeah I remember, I'll be packed in an hour," Shari promised. "Out of all the cities in the world Seth had to pick the one the O'Malleys; know best and where most of them live," she said shaking her head at Seth's arrogance and stupidity.
"You know I was just thinking the same thing," said Marcus also with a shake of his head. "But let's not look a gift horse in the mouth shall we?" said Marcus giving his wife a kiss. For the next few minutes both were lost in bliss as they kissed but finally reality intruded.
"I'll go get packed," Shari said turning away and getting the suitcase out of the closet.
~~~The Kidnapping~~~
