As he dropped into the seat of one of the company pick-up trucks, he keyed up the team, “My daughter just ran crying out of the house.  My wife said she was on the phone and then just grabbed her keys and left.”

“Shit, Alpha.  That doesn’t seem right,” Gunny noted.

A moment later, Ed came on the channel, “Same with Jack.  He got a call and Sharon said he tore out of the driveway.  I think everyone needs to go on alert.  I have contacted local PD and put an alert on his car.  Alpha, what car is Amy in?  I’ll get an alert on that, too.”

“1969 Camaro Z-28.  Dark green… Fathom.  Fathom Green.”

“Roger, Alpha.  We’ll find them,” Ed reiterated, as much for himself as for Bill.

“Three?  This is Two.  I’m on my way to pick you up.  I’ll be in the Blazer.  Give me 10 minutes.”

“Roger that, Two.  I’ll be ready to load up.”

***

Paul was pleased with himself.  It was almost too easy.  He’d been able to buy a tranquilizer gun from a veterinarian supply company.  That and the loaded darts had cost him ten thousand dollars, but he would be able to put both of them to sleep with one shot each.  And when he called and told each of them, he’d grabbed the other, they both came running.  They obviously hadn’t called each other… they just reacted.  It was perfect. 

Now both were bagged and in the back of his dad’s van, out cold.  They both seemed to have an ok pulse, so he probably was going to be able to give them a good lesson before he killed them.  Now he just had to get them to the beach.  It sucked that he had the van, but he could swap for the Bronco at the house.  He just hoped he didn’t have to deal with Candy.  He’d shoot her if she tried to stop him.  Right now, he thought he might even shoot his dad if the old man tried to interfere. 

***

Ed keyed up his radio to the team, “Vehicles located.  They were at Murphy’s warehouse.  The door was open and there were no signs of a struggle, but also no signs of Amy, Jack or Paul Murphy.  I am certain he picked them up there, but I don’t know how.  We need to find him.  And it needs to be fast.  We don’t know what vehicle to look for, either, aside from the Bronco, BMW and the VW van.”

Four and Five had already decided to fly around looking for the VW Van.  That would be an unusual vehicle, and easy to spot from the air.  They were flying around between Southern Shores and Oregon Inlet, concentrating mostly on the residential areas near Kitty Hawk and Kill Devil Hills.  They didn’t want to appear obvious, but they wanted to see as many driveways and parking lots as they could.  If the Murphy group, as they had started calling them, were paying attention, a chopper running a grid pattern over their neighborhood would tip them off.  For the bulk of the morning, the only time they weren’t in the air was when they were sitting on the ground at Dare County Regional Airport getting fuel.  The extra seat time is getting me a whole lot more comfortable flying this new bird, Duke thought to himself. 

“Sir, thank you for meeting with me today.  I have some interesting communications and I think I have a plan of action that could be helpful in our efforts to damage the networks in the Mid-Atlantic region,” the young agent offered.

“I’m listening.”

“I assume you are familiar with the case against the Murphy group… smuggling, money laundering, and this kidnapping business with one of the sons, sir.”

“Yes, I am, Agent Sky.  But what of it?  The Murphys are all on the run.  We don’t have any credible intel on their locations.  Or do you have something?” the older man asked.

“I do, Sir.  I ran a few ‘less than authorized’ taps, and one of them might be bearing fruit.  I would like permission to pursue it.”

“You do know that you wouldn’t be able to use any of the intel in court, and it is also likely that anything stemming from that could be tossed.  How do you intend to get around that?”

“The youngest son, Paul Murphy, has a contact in the Hampton Roads area that he has been in touch with.  They have an in-person meeting later this week.  I would like to recruit him to turn his father so that we can have everything he knows.”

“We have tried to talk Sean Murphy into WitSec, but he isn’t interested, Sky.  Was that all?”

“No, sir.  My thought is that he didn’t want to be in the program…  What if we helped him disappear instead?  His family will need identities and a way out of the country.  In exchange for his information, we can give him what he needs.  He couldn’t come back, so he wouldn’t be our problem anymore, either.  I think I can work that deal through the son… get them set up to leave the country in exchange for the father’s cooperation.”

“It is an intriguing idea, Agent Sky, but there are a lot of forces that don’t want to let Paul Murphy off the hook.  Apparently, he pissed off the wrong people.  I don’t know that I can push that through.”

“Sir, with all due respect, this could be an opportunity to strike a hard blow against drug proliferation across a large portion of the US market.  With tight OpSec and limited knowledge of the mission, we might be able to get this done.  I don’t think our part of the deal would need to be known, even to people like the WitSec group.  But I need to know within the next forty-eight hours in order to proceed.”

Moments after Agent Sky left the small office, Deputy Director Joseph Mullins got on his secure phone and called a contact he had at GRIT Group. 

“Jason?  It’s Joe.  I have a request for you.  Can you get someone from my team on the Prince task force?  I just need to keep an eye on them.  They might do damage to a case we are working.”

…

“Yes, Daddy,” Amy said, tears starting to fall down her cheeks for a second time. 

Amy ran in the door and locked it behind her.  She called out to her mom to call the police. 

“Is that you, Jack?” Paul said before the door opened all the way. 

“No…  you can call me Mr. Prince, Paul.  And I think you should leave.  Now.”

“I’d like to talk with Amy first, if you don’t mind, Bill” Paul said, arrogantly. 

“No, Paul.  As I said, you need to leave now.  The police are on their way, and you don’t want to be here when they get here.”

“No… Bill…  I’m pretty sure I should have a word with Amy first.  I’d like you to get out of my way.”

“First, you need to call me Mr. Prince.  Second, it’s almost midnight.  I’m NOT bringing my daughter out here to ‘have a word’ with a rude shithead trespassing in my garage.  You can leave, you can stand there until the police arrive, or I can toss you out on your ass.  It’s your choice, but I would guess that you are down to about two minutes before the police arrive and take away a couple of your options.”

Paul started advancing through the garage.  Bill was thinking to himself that he really needed to clean up more.  There were tools scattered all over workbenches around the garage… breaker bars, ratchet handles, big adjustable wrenches.  Those all made good weapons.  And he didn’t want to have any of them used against him. 

“Wow,” Paul said with a tone of fake admiration.  “Does the Snap-On truck visit you at the house?  You have some really nice tools.”

Paul picked up a half inch drive ratchet handle.  He started weighing it in his hand… with an implied threat that it would be useful to hit someone with.  Bill thought there was still a breaker bar and cheater pipe on the bench behind him, and he was backing that way.  He leaned back, feeling around behind him on the bench until he found the tools he was looking for.

“You really don’t want to do this, Paul.  You need to put down the wrench and walk away.  I think you are down to about a minute before the police arrive.”  Crap, where were they… he was going to give someone a piece of his mind about response time tomorrow morning.  “There is still time.  You can still walk away.  Do you think this is going to win Amy’s heart back or something?”

“Do you think this is about ‘winning her heart back’, Bill?  I don’t.  I think this is about her disrespecting me and carrying on behind my back.  How long has she been cheating on me with that little punk, huh?  Is she putting out for him?  Or are you just trying not to notice?  Of course, I guess it doesn’t really matter.  I think I’m going to have to teach both of them a lesson.  If there is anything that makes me madder than a cheater, I don’t know what it might be.  You know, my mom cheated on my dad.  Maybe that’s why it bothers me so much.”

“Paul, the ice you are on is getting thinner.  Insulting my daughter and me isn’t helping you get anything you want.”

“Sure, it is, because I have been wronged and I want retribution.  First, I’m going to take some on you, and then I’m going to take some on that little bitch and her toy.  What do you think of that?”

Bill saw past Paul to the blue and red flashing lights outside.  They should be in the door any moment.  He really didn’t want to fight this kid.  Aside from the fact that Paul was pretty large, six-two and two hundred and twenty-five pounds of sixteen-year-old varsity football linebacker, he didn’t want it on his conscience if he did permanent damage to this child.  Bill only fought one way… for survival.  All the way.  He wasn’t afraid, he just didn’t want to lose control of himself. 

He didn’t know if Paul could see reflections of the flashing lights coming through the door yet, but a moment later the door to the house opened and a police officer, followed by Amy and Chrissy, stepped into the garage.  Paul turned to leave but ran straight into the other responding officer.  He still had the ratchet handle in his hand.

As soon as he saw her, his knees started to quake.  Her blonde hair shimmered in the moonlight.  She wasn’t standing with Paul, but he was only an arm’s reach away.  They weren’t going out again, were they?  Was Jack going to have to get in a fight for asking Amy out?  Even if he and Amy weren’t together, Paul thought of her as property… he had acted like he’d owned her for years.  Almost all the way back to that first day she was at his school.  Jack knew he could take Paul down if he had to, but he didn’t want to be “that guy” and cause a ruckus at someone’s party.

As Jack paused there in the doorway, Mrs. Prince strode out from the kitchen door and directly toward Paul.

“Paul, can you help me with something?” she asked.

“In a minute,” he replied. 

Jack turned to Mrs. Prince, “I can help you.  What do you need?” he said as he intercepted her.

“Jonathan, hi.  What you can help me with is to get my daughter away from that jerk,” She whispered. 

Wow…  Jack didn’t know what to think. 

“Call me Jack.  Everyone does,” Jack said as he smiled.

Mrs. Prince continued walking over to Paul and lightly took his elbow.  Jack heard her mention something about a box on a shelf she couldn’t reach.  He heard Paul ask her where her husband was… and why he couldn’t get it.  But she was undeterred.  She was finally able to manage getting him away from the area Amy was in. 

Courage was way down from that eleven a moment ago… maybe a seven.  He could still do this.  He looked over at Amy.  ‘How could he be intimidated by a girl that only stood a couple of inches over five feet?  Heck, she couldn’t weigh more than a hundred pounds dripping wet.  Because I’m not fighting her, I’m asking her out’, he thought to himself.  ‘This is WAY scarier.’

He closed the distance… just a couple feet away. 

Courage down to five… tops. 

“Hi Amy”

“Hey Jonathan.  What’s up?  Are you ok?  You look a little… pale.”

“I’m good… I think.  Can I talk to you for a minute?”

“I’d like that.”

“Like in private… or something?”

“I guess,” as she kind of scrunched up her forehead, wondering what was going on.  He looked like he was about to pass out.  She was thinking she might need to find him a seat. “Should we go into the kitchen?”

“NO…  I mean, no… maybe we can just walk out across the yard…” he said, his voice cracking on the first word.

As she turned to walk out into the yard, she slid her arm into his.  He didn’t even know if he could talk now.  When had she actually touched him last, Jack thought?  He suddenly remembered her punching him in the arm in sixth grade… was that it? 

“Are you ok, Jonathan?  You are acting kind of weird.”

She was the only person that ever called him Jonathan.  Well, her and his grandmother, but that was it. 

“I’m ok… I… “

“Want to sit on the bench?”

“Ahh, sure.”

“So, what’s on your mind?”  She looked at him intently.

“Will you marry me?”

“Jonathan…  I… I… I…” she said, her eyes wide with surprise.

“Wait…  I meant will you go out with me… like on a date?” he quickly added as his eyes drifted toward the ground.  Jack wanted to crawl into a hole and die.  He was mortified.  He had just asked her to marry him and even in the pale light at the back of the yard, he could see that all the color drained out of her face.  His too.  He was positive that if he tried to stand up right now, he would pass out. 

“Oh…  You scared me for a minute there.  I mean you are nice and everything, but…”

Bill Prince, his wife’s father, had spent several months designing and structuring the payments so that Jack and his wife could be almost anonymous.  Neither wanted to notoriety of becoming billionaires.  They wanted to live their lives and raise a family like normal people.  As he watched his wife talking with his sister, he knew they couldn’t be normal. 

Amy broke away from Nicole and walked over to her husband and wrapped her arms behind him.  She leaned into him and kissed him tenderly.  “Happy Birthday, Jonathan,” she said, using the name that almost nobody else used for him.  “Do you feel any different?”

“What, being a year older or because of the bounty?” he replied, smiling.  He shook his head, “No, I don’t think so.  But I think things are going to change.”

“I’ll love you no matter what,” Amy said, kissing him again. 

Jack was sure she would.  That wasn’t even a concern for him.  She’d been in love with him since they were nine years old, and he’d been just as in love with her.  They lost half a dozen years, but when they finally managed to put that behind them, their love had done nothing but grow. 

Amy slid away again, she drifted into a conversation with a few of the other guests.  She was always in demand.  Jack pried himself away from the wall and went to one of the tables and sat down, a whiskey and coke sitting where he’d left it.  He picked it up and took another sip. 

“Happy Birthday, son,” his father said, dropping into a chair next to him.  “Been a helluva year.”

Jack glanced at his dad.  Ed Dixon was an understated man.  He spoke half a dozen languages, and had defied death too many times to count, and had the scars to prove it.  But Ed’s real power was his ability to read people. 

“Sure has,” Jack replied simply.  In the last twelve months he’d gone from struggling photographer on the edge of breaking out to being a billionaire.  It was largely by accident, but it was still real.

“You ok?”

“Yeah,” he replied, watching his wife.  She turned and smiled, blowing him a kiss. 

“Amy is something else.  She has that gaming company riding a rocket.  The industry media love her.  She’s well-spoken and perfect in front of the camera.”  He paused for a minute.  “Are you ok being invisible, Jack?”

“I think I am… and I know what you mean.  When we’ve been at the shows, even when I was speaking at a photojournalism symposium, they flock to her.”

“She’s a beautiful, smart and talented CEO.  If you want to upstage her, you can… especially now, with all that money… the question is if you want to.”

Jack sat for a moment.  Of course, the old man was right.  With a few moves, Jack Dixon could be a household name.  He could pop into existence as one of the top ten wealthiest individuals in the US.  He would be around tenth…  He’d thought about it quite a bit, especially over the last couple of weeks as the reality hit him.  It just wasn’t something he wanted to do. 

“So, you have anything on the horizon?” Ed asked.

“Yeah.  I have a photoshoot out west with a car… the Vector W8 Twin Turbo.  I leave Monday and should be back in two weeks.  Then, Amy and I are going on a cruise to Alaska for her birthday.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Ed winked.  “But right now, I need to go dance with my wife.”

Jack and Ed walked back toward the crowd.  As Ed disappeared, Jack slipped up behind his wife and wrapped his arms around her as she continued the conversation in which she had been involved.