Darkness Unfolds

Richard probably won't understand the message unless he becomes immersed in the house, as well, but Jake will. Hanging up, Troy pulled up a map of NY.

NY makes sense. It's on the water with easy boat access. He couldn't imagine that they can fly these hostage women out of the country without someone catching on.

Preparing himself to settle in for a long night of searching properties, businesses, and seedy characters that might be in that area, he heads to the kitchen for a pot of coffee. Damn, I hope Jake knows what he's doing; he could make life difficult for him if he doesn't save Tori. He just prays she is still in this country and as safe as can be. There are some sick fucks out there. Whatever happened to making an honest living?

"Holy shit! he just remembered an email that Jake and him set up years ago for situations like this. They worked several cases together and needed a way to communicate that no one else could decipher. Both emails are untraceable and bounce around through IP addresses all over the world. They once had several IT guys at the FBI try to hack them, and they weren't able to. He quickly log on and searched for a coded message but find none. He will have to check several times a day in case he tries to reach him.

After several hours searching NY, he found a few houses for sale. One property has been leased by a foreign oil company, another is an abandoned warehouse, and last is a business called Vivad Consulting; they all raise suspicion. He checked maps and NY, is about four hours from here. This area is the strongest lead yet. He has nothing solid, so he won't bring Amber this information until he's sure, but damn he wants to give her good news and watch her face light up.

After checking all the security cams and locking up tight, he climbed the stairs to his room. He strips down to nothing and slides into bed next to Amber; she immediately curls her body around his."

"I love you."

She mumbles in her sleep. That is the first time she's said it, and she probably won't even remember. Kissing the top of her head he whispers, "I love you, too, Baby, I love you, too."

The next few days are spent trying to keep herself busy. The busier she is, the less she thinks. She dusted every inch of the cabin and polished the wooden floors. She finds the spare room upstairs and find another one downstairs by the office that has been turned into a gym. She was ecstatic to find the treadmill, and she had put that to use every day. They have gone to town twice, once for groceries and other supplies and the second time to get everything they forgot to get the first time.

Troy spends a lot of time in his office but doesn't tell her much. She knows he is trying to find leads on her sister but is afraid to get her hopes up and then hit a dead end. He says Jake has been gone for six days and is likely with Tori in the house, so that brings her some comfort; however, today he'd told her that he's lost contact with Savage. That can't be good. She does not know who Savage is, other than he is Jake's partner. She doesn't know Jake for that matter, either, but she can only hope Savage is now with Jake and helping to protect her sister. When she told him she would be happy if Savage is helping Jake, he mumbles,

"you won't like the outcome," and goes back to staring at his computer.

She glanced over his shoulder to see a map of NY and wonder if that is where he thinks her sister is.

There is distance growing between them, the size of the Grand Canyon, and even though they made love every day, she felt invisible the rest of the time. She knows he is working on making her happy by finding Tori, but he seems a little obsessed. Almost like he's using that to keep his distance. Maybe he has changed his mind about them; that thought makes her sick.

At 1:00 pm on day eight of Jake undercover, She needs to lie down, so she went upstairs and curl up in bed. Maybe she's feeling so exhausted from emotional stress. Maybe it's all the cleaning and worrying that has worn her down. She does not know how long she's been asleep when she heard Troy shouting.

"Shit, shit, shit!"

The sound of thunderous footsteps echo on the stairs, and she sits up quickly just as he bursts into the room yelling.

"Amber, we gotta go."

He heads for the closet and throws out two duffle bags, then told her to grab what she could and fit it into one of the bags. Amber sat frozen, her mind trying to process the last couple of days when it sinks in that this is about Tori; she need to move now.

She packed all of her belongings into the bag and then rush to the bathroom to get shower supplies. She don't have much, even though Troy has bought her everything she needs and then some; it is still not the lifetime supply of things that she has in her home at her dad's. He grabs both bags and her hand and leads the way to the garage. When they pulled out, he pushes a button on the rearview mirror and the garage door closes. Then he takes a remote out of the glove compartment, pushes several buttons, and steel shutters begin lowering over the windows.

"Do those cover the wall of windows out back, too?"

He chuckles.

"No, Baby, those are bullet-proof, the shutters are to keep large animals and crooks from getting in the smaller windows."

"Well, couldn't they also get to the large windows out back?"

As they pulled away from the house, his eyes are darting everywhere as if he's waiting for someone to jump out.

"It's a possibility; they would have to get through the six-foot-high electric fence first." At her look of confusion, he continues.

"It's a high-security perimeter fence that encloses my backyard and surrounds about 25 acres of my property to keep out bears, large cats, and hunters."

"Oh," is all she could say. She does not know a lot about this level of paranoia but considering all she'd been through, maybe now she should.

As they pulled out onto the paved road that winds down the mountain, he reaches for her and pulls her head down into his lap.

"Amber, I need you to stay down for a while. Just try to get some sleep."