Hours drag on

Mick gives Damien a wry grin. “I thought maybe that was the case. Unfortunately, we don’t have any way to tell…the rest of us pretty much figured it out on our own, but we knew who had the chips. The only other way would probably be to have an x-ray, but we don’t have that equipment here.” He shakes his head. “I wouldn’t want to go cutting into you though, without being sure.”


Austin retrieves the notepad from Katie, and nods thoughtfully. “It was busy at the mall…lots of noise…prime time for someone to pull off a nabbing. It wouldn’t be worth our time to try to track anyone down who might have seen or heard anything. Most likely there would be no witnesses.” He grabs a folded map of the surrounding towns and hands it to her. “Here. Check out these downs on the internet and mark down any that have places that have gone out of business, or where noted abandoned buildings might be. My guess is that the Agency wouldn’t take Jason far, but I could be wrong.”


Cindy finally regains a small amount of control, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. “I’m…I’m sorry, Wes. I just…fall to pieces when I think about…not seeing him again.” Another tear escapes. “But you’re right….” She takes as deep breath and glances over to Austin. “He found him once…he can find him again…” She nestles her head against Wes’ chest, not even caring about properness. “I knew when I let Jason go to TJY that there would be hard times…but nothing can ever prepare a mother for this…”


As the evening drags on, Austin gets more people involved in making calls to local authorities and hospitals in case Jason had shown up anywhere else, and going through Agency files.

Some of the women prepare a late supper of soup and sandwiches for everyone, though few take a break while eating. By three in the morning, some have wandered to bed, while most have remained up. Austin has more equipment, brought from Con, as he desperately tries to pinpoint the likeliest thugs from the Agency who might have pulled off the nabbing, while also trying to figure out the most likely place they would have taken Jason. Reese calls back with the news that the two TJY men have found nothing yet, but are sweeping the area as requested. By four o’clock, everyone is weary.