FBI Agent Demetrius Gans, now the temporary supervisor, had a daily routine. Must people do of course. Demtrius was simply following that routine today. On his way to his office with his briefcase, his coffee, and his newspaper that he had already read most of, he passed through the bullpen where his old team works. Well, it wasn't really his old team, because he was the temporary supervisor. he still had a desk there, just waiting for him to return and resume his place on the team. In the meantime though, he had to supervise. That meant that he had a seperate office. Often times, he thought that it was nice to have his own office. Nobody could interrupt his work unless they called on the phone or knocked on the door. He had peace and solitude as long as the door was closed. He also liked that he didn't have to go out and do the dirty work all the time. He did kind of miss it, but it was also nice to have the break from it. It wasn't that he was afraid to do the dirty work. He still would in a heart beat. The best thing he liked about it though, was the increase in pay. However, he had been assured that the pay was just as temporary as the position.

In essence, Demetrius liked being a supervisor. He easily could finish out his career this way. But he still had a heart for the field work.

This day, as he stepped through the bullpen, Jack and Lucy were the only ones there. They did tend to be the earliest, and Sue was always close behind Lucy if she didn't walk through the door with her, or on the occasion, Sue actually beat her to it.

Demetrius stopped by Jack's desk. "Good morning Jack."

"Good morning D. How you doing?"

"Good. How about you?"

"Ah, I'm doing alright."

"So how's that wire fraud case coming? Did you get any big leads over night?"

"No, nothing. These guys are good. We're going to have to work hard to get them."

"Well, we've gotten people like them before. We'll get them."

"Yeah."

Demetrius continued on to his office. He did the same things that he usually does. He set his briefcase on the desk, took a sip of his coffee and then set that down too, and threw his newpaper aside. Time to begin another day at the FBI. He sat down and moved his mouse around to wake up his computer. Computers never wake up fast enough for your liking, so he took another sip of his coffee. He clicked to check his e-mail, to which his computer gladly announced to him, "You've got mail!"

"Yeah no kidding." That always bugged him. I mean every time. Computers shouldn't be allowed to talk. They should just listen to you talk, and do as their told. By no means should a computer be able to have any kind of personality programmed into it, even if it is the same personality all the time. Demetrius often wondered if computer programmers had really paid attention during the "Terminator" movies.

Demetrius looked with little interest at all the memos from the big guys above him. Most of them were useless. He already knew about policies and whatnot. There was one though that really caught his attention. It wasn't from one of the big guys, or anybody else that he knew for that matter. It was the subject that really grabbed his attention. "Where are your children?"

He had thought at first that it might be some kind of SPAM that had something to do with GPS signals or something, but then he remembered that he had a SPAM filter. He worked for the FBI. They had to have spam filters unless they were investigating it in the fraud division. He realized that it must be some kind of a personal message, or a virus in disguise.

Before he opened it, he scanned with his virus scan. Nope, no virus. Must be a personal message then. That's an odd subject for a personal message though. Demetrius started to get this creepy feeling. Something just didn't feel right about this. He checked quickly to see what time it had been received. Just two minutes before he came in the door. With that weird feeling getting more intense, he clicked on it, and saw the message that turned his normal, mundane day, into the nightmare of his career.

The message was short and simple. "It's almost 8 AM. Do you know where your children are? I do."

Wow! Great start! I'm intrigued, though a little scared for D! I look forward to more! Glad you've decided to join the rest of us in the Challenge.

I noticed this is your first post on the site, so let me say welcome as well!

hi

welcome to the site

intriguing start, looking forward to seeing where you take us

cath

Oh wow, that was gripping! So many possibilities...is someone watching his kids or does he/she have them already?????

kav

Okay, you'e got my attention and I'm just a little scared. What a great start...looking forward to more.

WELCOME!!!!!! This is great to see a fic from D's point of View!!! Welcome to the board!!!! I'm sure you're going to love it here. Everyone is soo friendly and kind!!! This is fantastic and you obviously have buckets of talent!!!!!

Please post soon!

Jenny

Great start. Good to see a Demetrius-centred story.

And welcome!

Welcome!!

I love "D" stories!! But I don't like hearing his children might be in danger!!

Great start!! I can't wait to see where you take us with this!!!

Joy

That feeling that Demetrius had quickly progressed to a cold shiver darting down his spine and shaking back and forth. He was like any other father. Nobody had better mess with his children. He couldn't stand the thought that something might happen to them, but he didn't want to over react either. He worked for the FBI after all. Anybody could have found his information somehow and decided to play a practical joke or something. However, he had to take this very seriously.

He already knew his first steps to figure this out. He picked up his phone and pushed the speed dial to call home. He examined the sending address carefully as he nervously waited for Donna to pick up the phone. Whoever had created the address must have had a cruel sense of humor. abc123 That e-mail address mocked him with memories of his children learning their letters and numbers as they began kindergarten. "This message had better be a practical joke."

After the fourth ring, Donna picked up the phone. "Hello."

"Hey Honey!" he started nervously, but trying his best to keep his voice under control. "How are you doing?"

"I'm fine honey. What happened, you miss me already. You only just left a short time ago. I bet you haven't even gotten any work done yet."

"Well, I'm trying to anyway. How about the kids, how are they doing?"

"Well, they're fine too. They just left for school."

"How long ago did they leave?"

There was a pause. Donna obviously thought it an odd question. "They left a couple of minutes ago. Why?"

"Donna, could you please do me a favor? I want you to go get in the car and follow them to the school and make sure they're OK."

"Demetrius, what's going on? I mean, it's only a five minute walk. What's going to happen...Demetrius, is something wrong?"

"Look Donna, it's probably nothing. I just have this really weird feeling, OK? You know, people sometimes get bad feelings, and this is one of those times that I have a bad feeling. Could you please do this for me and call me back? Just humor me please, just this one time."

"Are you sure that's all it is? You know, you never tell me everything when something's wrong."

"I'm sure. You know, most of the time when people have bad feelings, it turns out to be nothing. I just would like you to check on the kids and call me back so that I can settle myself down with your assurances. Please could you just do this for me?"

There was another pause. "OK, Demetrius, but I don't want to find out later that you're not telling me something."

Demetrius felt bad lying to her, but he really wanted her to get out that door after them as calmly as possible. "Really, honey, I'm telling the truth. Please go and make sure they're OK."

"Alright Honey, I'll call you back in a bit."

"Thanks Honey, I'll be waiting."

He hung up the phone and stared once again at the ominous message in his screen. He picked up his coffee, thinking that the caffeine might help settle him down. His hand shook with the coffe slopping slightly. He steadied his hand and set it back down. "Calm down D. It's probably just a practical joke." he told himself out loud.

He got up without the coffee and headed for the bull pen to see if Tara was there yet. Practical joke or not, he wanted to know who had sent him that message. Luckily for him, he had a good friend named Tara who could find that stuff out in her sleep.

this must be so hard for D when he probably just wants to rush home to be with donna but he will soon have the best team in the bureau on the case

cath

Yeah, you're tearing my heart apart!!!! Don't worry, that's a good skill for a writer!! I hope the kids will be fine!!

Jenny

Donna was both worried and annoyed at the same time as she got into the car. She was worried about her children. Although Demetrius said that it was just a funny feeling he has, he usually uses that line as more of an excuse to not tell her what is really going on. That was the part that annoyed her. It didn't seem to matter how many times she told him not to do that, he kept doing anyway. Any time there was a problem that he didn't want her to know about it was the same. "Oh it's nothing." he would say. At the same time, he was always visibly concerned or upset. She muttered a little bit under her breath as she closed the car door.

She started up the car and pulled out of the driveway. She looked on the sides of the road to see where her children were the whole way to the school. There were many children walking on the sidewalks, and many school buses headed for the school. All of them were headed in the same general direction because their school district had all of the schools pretty much sitting next to each other.

Donna expected to see the children somewhere along the side of the road. They tended to walk together until Davey was at the Junior High School, and thenTonya would turn around and head back to the High School. It wasn't so much that Tonya felt like she had to keep an eye on Davey. In fact, it was their father who insisted that they walk together, because it would be safer for them if some stranger wanted to try and do something. Tonya and Davey both insisted that there shouldn't be anything to worry about. Actually, Demetrius would commonly say to them, "It's not about whether you can take care of yourselves. It's all because there is safety in numbers."

Donna went by the High School, and then arrived at the Junior High School. She didn't see the children. Donna figured that the best bet would be to see if Davey was inside somewhere. She was already here after all. Maybe she would meet Tonya coming away from the door or something. Tonya did have a habit of going to visit with a favorite teacher for brief moments on occasion.

--------------------------------------------

Lucy noticed Bobby and Myles coming into the bullpen together. As they walked in Bobby asked Myles, "So, tell me something Myles."

"Yes."

"Do you think it would change the meaning of the phrase if we called it 'wired fraud' instead of 'wire fraud?' "

Myles stopped and thought for a moment. "Well, I think it would. It's almost like your talking about the same thing, but in a different tense. "Wire fraud' would be something you are doing right now maybe, wheras 'wired fraud' sound more like past tense."

"What if we moved the letters around a little more. It wouldn't take much to spell out 'weird fraud.' What do you think that would be?"

"Oh don't know. I've never thought to categorize different kinds of wire fraud. Do you think there really could be a form of weird fraud?"

Lucy jumped into the conversation. "Forget it guys. You're the ones that are weird."

Lucy stepped away and got busy looking through some files. Bobby and Myles looked at each other with quizzical looks. Sue came walking in after a few moments. Bobby called her over. "Hey Sue."

Sue saw him and walked over. "Morning Bobby. Myles."

"Morning. Tell me Sue, do you think that Myles and I are weird?"

Sue looked confused. "Weird?"

"Yeah. Lucy says that whe thinks we're weird."

"Well, sometimes I wonder. Why did she say that."

"I don't know for sure. We were talking about the possibility of weird fraud, and she walked over snd said that we were the weird ones."

Sue looked at them for a moment, still looking confused. "You know, this is one of those times when I am wondering if maybe Lucy could be right."

"What!" myles proclaimed. "Oh your cunning wit. It pierces to the heart."

Sue simply gave them a knowing and slightly amused look, and then proceeded to her desk.

--------------------------------------------

Demetrius stepped into the bullpen. He heard Myles proclaiming something about his heart. He didn't care. All he wanted was to make sure that Tara was there. He looked at her desk. Nope, not yet. Oh wait, here she comes from the other door. "Tara." She looked at him. "Jack." He looked up also. "I need you both in my office...immediately." He turned around and headed for his office. Jack and Tara both looked at each other with searching looks. Both obviosly didn't know what this was about, but neither waisted time following him to his office.

Oh He's got them already hasn't he? Thank goodness for Tara -- if there's a way to trace him by the email addy she'll be able to do it. And the team joking and acting so normal, not knowing what D was facing...it's such a creepy contrast. Great job!

kav

as kav said a great contrast between thr banter of myles and bobby and donna and d's concerns

i'd agree with luce, they're both wierd!!!

cath

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Demetrius got both Jack and Tara onto his side of the desk and had them look at the e-mail message. Both of their eyes went wide, and Tara said quietly, "Oh my gosh!"

Demetrius only waited a few moments for it to sink in to them. "Tara, I want to know where this message came from. I want a name of a person, street address, specific computer...whatever you can tell me. How long will it take?"

"Well, it will take me a little bit, but I'll use all my tricks and have it all for you in maybe, ten to fifteen minutes."

"Jack. As soon as we figure out where this came from, I want agents all over it. This case takes priority over the wire fraud. I don't take this kind of thing lightly. If this is somebody's idea of a practical joke, their pretty sick."

Jack looked at him with a very serious look on his face. "You really think this might be a practical joke?"

"I'm hoping so." Demetrius was looking a little unsettled again.

"Look, D, I don't mean to destroy your hopes for your children, but I don't think this is a practical joke."

"Why do you say that?"

"Well, one could argue that someone might have suddenly come across your information somewhere and then decided to play a practical joke, but do you realize just how much information that person would have had to come across? I could see someone out in some company finding your name, address, e-mail address, credit card number...stuff like that. But this person also knows that you have children. I'm not saying that it's impossible for this to be a joke. I just don't think it's likely."

Demetrius suddenly had a very distraught look on his face.

"Actually D, I think that it's very probable that this is a real threat from someone that knows you. This person likely not only knows that you have children, but how many, who they are, what they look like. This person has probably been watching you guys to be able to know these things. Like I said, it's not that it's impossible, but I don't think that this is a joke."

Demetrius looked down for a moment, then over at the clock on the wall, and then back to Jack, all the time breathing a little harder and visibly distraught. "And I went ahead and sent Donna after the children, possibly into danger." He stood and thought for a moment. "I'm calling her again."

He picked up the phone and pushed the speed dial for her cell phone this time.

----------------------------------------------

Donna was walking in the door of the school office. It was now only minutes after 8:00. The children probably were not even in their home rooms yet. As she stepped to the counter, her cell phone rang. She checked the caller ID. It was Demetrius.

"Hello."

"Donna, where are you right now?"

"I'm in the junior high office. I just got here. I didn't see the children on the way here."

"Donna, is the secretary right there?"

Donna paused for a moment. "D, something is going on and your not telling me. What's going on?!"

This time, Demetrius paused. "Donna, someone has threatened our children." Donna gasped. "Donna, I need you to give the phone to the secretary, and I'll talk to you as soon as I can."

"OK."

Donna looked at the secretary and called her over. "My name is Donna Gans. I came her looking for my son, but my husband is an FBI agent, and he needs to talk to you."

The secretary was hesitant, but agreed and took her cell phone. "Hello."

"My name is Demetrius Gans. My son goes to your school. Well, I'm also an FBI agent, and I just received a threat against my children. I need to talk to the school superintendant...now."

I admire D's abillity to stay calm. As hard as that maybe for him

Wow. I love it when people write original fanfics (I haven't read that many about D) Personally I find it really hard to write from his perspective, but I love the character.


I didn't know those two talked to each other like that. Why are they getting along so well?

I really like D taking charge and I hope that you'll keep him, his family and the team safe!!!! JBTLSMD, I love your avatar!! Great post!!!

Jenny

Every parent worse nightmare- ACK!!

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Hey! Bobby and Myles have their moments. This is one of them. And I only thought I'd have to defend my point of view from my wife! (By the way, my wife is known as Dawn Slater. She's writing a story about Victoria in the Beginner's Corner. I helped her with it at first, but then she got mad at me and won't let me helpo anymore.)

I guess on this board, there has to be some humour, otherwise the case just gets plain scary!!!


Jenny

I think it's great that you two are writing fanfics, my boyfriend used to read my 'Harry Potter's' but he doesn't really conect to 'Sue Thomas'...

Welcome, C.H, I really love your descriptions of D, looks very real and I agree about Myles and Bobby, I think beneath all those practical jokes they can be good friends!

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The secretary scribbled down some information real quick, closed the phone and gave it to Donna. "Maam, I know that you are in a terrible place right now, but I need to contact the district superintendant right now. That won't take long. I will check to see if your son is in his homeroom as soon as I get off the phone with the superintendant."

Donna was on the edge of despair. Her son and daughter had been threatened by who knows who, her husband wouldn't explain, she didn't know where the children were, and this woman wasn't looking right this moment! "But maam!!" The secretary didn't respond, but kept right going with her desk phone.

----------------------------------------------

Demetrius hung up his phone and looked at Jack. "Jack, get the team ready. we're going over there, no matter what. Either we are going to take the children into protective custody when we find them, or..."

Demetrius couldn't finish. Jack gently took D's shoulders in his hands and looked him right in the eye. "D, it's alright. We'll find them."

Demetrius nodded and then looked Jack in the eye. "I'm coming with you."

Jack just relesed D's shoulders nodded and said, "Sure, of course. I'll go get the team ready."

Jack left and Demetrius addressed Tara, already hard at work on his computer. "Tara, as soon as you have anything, call me on my cell phone." Tara nodded her head and kept working.

Demetrius went out the door and quickly called Jack to wait. Jack turned around and looked at him. As soon as Demetrius caught up he said, "Look, this is your team, and I know that you're in charge. But these are my children. Listen, let's do this together. You and I will both lead this team. I'm not interested in being your supervisor quite so much right now, but I'm willing to do whatever I have to to ensure the safety of my children."

"Alright D, you've got a deal. We'll work together. Now let's go find them."

They walked together to the bull pen. Jack spoke up. "OK, team, we have a new top priority case. I don't care what lead you have on the wire fraud case, this is more important."

Everybody paid attention. Levi got Sue's attention as soon as they walked in the room.

"This is a very serious situation. D received an e-mail this morning from an unknown person. The message was a threat directed toward his children."

Lucy and Sue both gasped audibly.

Bobby asked, "What did it say?"

D spoke up. "It said, 'It's almost 8AM. Do you know where your children are? I do.' I sent Donna to check on the children as they were walking to the school. She didn't see them on the way, and right now, she's at the Junior High School checking on Davey."

D's phone rang. He stepped aside to take the call.

Jack went on. We're going to the schools. We are going to find these children if they are missing, and we are going to take them into protective custody until this is solved. D and I will be leading this one together, so whatever he tells you to do..."

Jack knew he didn't need to finish. D didn't need long on the phone. He came back to the group and gave them the update. "OK, both the Junior High and the Senior High will be in a state of lockdown. Nobody will be going in or out except us. Lucy, Sue, I want both of you ready to be on the phone. If we need a..."

D stopped, again unable to finish. Jack did it for him. "If we need a helicopter or local authorites or something, we will need you here to make that call." Lucy and Sue nodded their heads.

Then Jack raised his voice a little, "Ok team, let's go!"

Everybody moved.

--------------------------------------------

When the secretary got off the phone, Donna demanded her attention. "Maam, where is my son? Is he in the home room?"

"I'll call down to the room and ask his teacher. Homeroom begins in five minutes, so he might not be there quite yet."

Donna stared at her.

"I'll call down there right now."

The secretary went to the special phone for calling the rooms. She talked with the teacher for a few moments then returned. "Mrs. Norton says that he isn't there yet, but he still has a few minutes. I'll call down again when the homeroom bell rings."

The phone on the secretary's desk rang. "Excuse me." she said.

"But..." Donna got out before the secretary picked up, but she went ahead and answered the phone anyway.

Donna was terribly worried. What if they didn't find Davey there at the homeroom bell?

The secretary returned after a moment. "That was the superintendant. He is talking to the principle right now."

"Good."

"Let's try our best to be patient, OK? Just so you know, I'm very worried about this too. I can't imagine how hard this is for you right now, but I do sympathize."

Donna thought, "Well that helps some, but what about my children?"

Donna's phone rang. It was D! "Honey, they called his homeroom, and he wasn't there yet!" she said with a sob.

"Donna, everything will be OK. Just hang on, we're coming over there."

"We?"

"Yes, the whole team. We're gonna find them, and keep them safe."

"OK!"

"Donna, whatever you do, don't go anywhere. Just stay where you are."

"OK!"

The principal came out of his office and spoke to the secretary. Donna made out the words "lockdown" and "homeroom" in the conversation.

Just then the homeroom bell rang. The secretary nodded her head and picked up the special phone for the rooms again. "D, their checking the homeroom again. Homeroom just started."

After a few moments, the secretary turned and looked at the principal and Donna with a pale face. "He's still not there."

Thanks!

I'm not saying they're not friends. It just seems to me that they tease and bug each other a lot, and their interaction in that scene seemed to be more like Jack and Bobby, than Myles and Bobby. (I was mostly kidding, anyway)

First of all, welcome to fanfic land! Just a warning, we can all get a little crazy here sometimes....but chocolate and frequent postings usually help!

This story is great so far....a little scary. I'm looking forward to reading more!!

What she said. I'm soo worried about Tanya and Davey!!!!!! Please keep them safe!!

Jenny

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Donna began to panic. "Demetrius, he's not there! He's not there!"

"Donna, listen to me. I have given the superintendant orders to lock down the school and search it. They're going to find them, and if they don't we will. But you must stay calm. Panicking won't help our children. Please Donna, take a deep breath and calm down."

Donna did. She took a deep breath, and just breathed for a few moments. "OK, Demetrius. I'll try to stay calm."

"Good. Good job honey. Now just stay where you are. We're coming."

"OK"

----------------------------------------

Demetrius hung up and looked to Sue and Lucy. "I want locals searching the streets, and I want an arial search as well. I'm not willing that my children not be found. Davey's not in his classroom, and if he's not in the building at all, I want to find him, now."

The ladies nodded and Lucy went straight to the phone. She wasn't usually the one to do it, but people were very busy.

Demetrius started to leave to get his gear on. It had been a long while since he last put it on. Tara came running down the hallway. "Demetrius!" D turned and looked as she caught up with him. "The e-mail came from a computer lab in the Senior High School."

Can I just say AAAAAAHHHHH! Great job...I can't wait for more. Please don't leave us in suspense for too long!

AHHHHHH!!!!! Love all the suspense that you've created!!!!

[SIZE=7]
Tara continued. "Here. This is the computer's ISP number. If you give this to the computer lab teacher, he, or she for that matter, will be able to tell you which computer it is."

"Thanks Tara. Your a gem. See what else you can figure out, like who's e-mail address that it."

"Well, actually, I already checked that. However, it was inconclusive seeing that it is registered to one Abraham Lincoln of Washington D.C."

Demetrius sighed. "All right, well, there must be something more."

"Of course there is. And whatever it is, I'll find it."

"Thanks, Tara."

Demetrius continued toward his gear. As he began putting his gear on, Jack came by. "Hey Jack. Notch one up for the practical joke theory. The message was sent from the Senior High School."

"Alright, but let's not assume."

"That's right. We'll get whoever sent it."

Nothing more was said until they reached the schools. It was now about 8:40 or so. The district superintendant met them with the school principals and the local officers outside. After some quick introductions, the local officers briefed them. "We are currently searching both schools from top to bottom, inside and out looking for them. We also have an officer questioning those who live on your street with you to find out if they saw anything. Also, we have some agents searching the nearby areas of the city with help from the air. So far, we have not found either one."

Demetrius slapped his knee in frustration.

Jack spoke up. "Ok, thanks for your help. Just brief our men on where you've looked and they'll join you."

The officers left with the other agents, leaving only the school officials, Jack and Demetrius. D reached in his pocket and pulled out the paper that Tara had given him. As he handed it to the Senior High Principal he said, "We've traced the e-mail containing the threat to a computer at your school. This is the ISP number. We'd like you to figure out which computer it is for us."

"OK. Come with me."

"Go ahead Jack. Donna is over at the Junior High. I'm gonna go find her."

"OK, D. I'll call you."

Demetrius walked over to the Junior High. He heard the helicopter over head. Boy, he hoped someone would find them. As he entered the Junior High office, Donna ran to him and called out, "Demetrius!"

Demetrius held her tight in a hug. At least he knew that he still had his precious Donna. He just held her, not wanting to let go. "We'll find them." He assured her over and over that they would find them for well over a minute.

Eventually, his cell phone rang. They gently let go of each other, and D answered, "Hello."

It was Tara. "Demetrius..."

The pause was too long. "Tara, what is it?"

"D, they left another message. It just came through while I sat here. It says, 'You'll never find them out there with your helicopter. They're in here with me.' "

D couldn't believe his ears. An anger began to rise up within him. "Thanks Tara."

He closed the phone without waiting for a response. He pounded the counter, and Donna and the secretary both jumped a little.

Donna spoke up. "Demetrius, what's going on?"

"When I got to work this morning, there was an e-mail on my computer. It said, 'It's almost 8AM. Do you know where your children are? I do.' Well, they just left another mesage. Donna, whoever it is who's doing this, they say they have our children."

Donna yelled out "What! NOOOOO!"

Again they embraced as Donna cried. Demetrius knew their was little he could do to comfort her. He wanted some himself, but he also knew that he had to be strong. How would they find the children otherwise?

After a few minutes, his phone rang again. Demetrius continued to hold her this time as he answered. "Hello."

"D, it's Jack. We couldn't find the computer. It's been stolen."

Wow! You really know how to build the suspense!

Welcome.......and keep up the good work!!!

Jill

i'm on the edge of my seat here

cath

I'm not calm enough to be on the edge of my seat!!! *runs around cyber world screaming* AACKKK!!!!! PLease please keep them safe!!!

jen

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"Stolen?!"

"Yes, it was one of the few lap top computers that they have hear. They just use them to help the students get used to using laptops. Anyway, this one came up missing a few days ago. They think that it was stolen."

"Ok, Jack, I'm gonna call Tara."

They both hung up, and D immediately called Tara.

"Hello."

"Tara, it's D. That computer that you gave me the ISP number for has been stolen or something. It's been missing for a few days. I need you to try tracing it again. We need to find out where it REALLY came from. It's a lap top computer, so it could probably have come from just about anywhere."

"I'm on it D. As soon as I have something, I'll let you know."

They hung up, and D looked at Donna, who was still in his arms. "Honey, I want you to stay with some of the other agents. It's possible that someone has targeted me for some reason, and they may go after you to get to me."

Donna loooked alarmed, and she started to say something, but stopped.

D continued, "I don't really know what's going on here, but I want you to be safe, so do this for me just in case, OK?"

Donna thought for a few moments, then nodded her head.

D found one of the men and ordered him to take her to the office where she would be safe. After that, he had an investigation to finish, so he went straight to the Senior High for an update. He met Jack at the door.

"Jack, fill me in."

"The teacher, a Mr. Wheely said that they occasionally loan out the lap top computers for doing assignments at home, but it's very rare. They only loan them out to the students they really trust. Anyway, this one had NOT been signed out, and nobody remembered giving it out to anyone. They reported it to the locals. So far, they haven't heard anything back from them, so I'm on my way to the city officer in charge here to follow up.'

"Let's go. We'll talk as we walk."

"OK. I asked the teacher if he thought one of the students had taken it. He said it was possible, but he couldn't think of anyone himself who he would suspect."

"Were there any signs of a break in?"

"The principal said that he had not heard of any."

The two approached the city officer in charge. "Officer Spencer?"

"Yes."

"The e-mail messages that were sent to me were traced to a lap top computer that belongs to this school. It was reported missing a few days ago. I'll need a briefing on the investigation into that."

"Ok, I'll call down to the precinct, and we'll get the investigator in charge to come down here."

"Thank you."

As the officer stepped away, D turned to Jack. "They sent another message, Jack."

"What did it say?"

"It said, 'You won't find them out there with your helicopter. I've got them in here with me.' "

D's phone rang. It was Tara.

"D, this guy is good. We're definetly dealing with someone who knows computers. He made it look like he was in the Senior High, but he's not too smart for me. He was actually using a cordless connection from a public library just down the street from your house."

This is getting really serious.

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"I know the one Tara. Thanks. By the way, have you done the same kind of trace on the second message?"

"I'm working on it right now as we speak."

"Good job. Keep it up."

D hung up, and then it sunk in what Tara had just told him. A cordless link at the library down the street from his house. That cold tingle down his spine was back. Jack stepped in front of him.

"D? D? Are you OK?"

D shook his head clear quickly. "What?"

"Is everything OK? What's wrong?"

"Oh. Tara traced the e-mail message to a cordless connection at the library down the street. Uh, would you follow up on the leads here? I'm gonna take Bobby with me and go to the library."

Jack looked at him for a minute, wondering if this whole arrangment was going to work for D. "Yeah sure." he finally said.

"By the way Jack, in all the commotion, I forgot about issuing an amber alert. I don't know how I could forget something like that, but I did."

"Don't worry about it. I already took care of it."

"Good. At least one of us is thinking clearly."

"Yeah...um, D. Are you sure you should be doing this. This could be too much stress for you."

"It would be worse if I were sitting around wondering what's going on."

"I could keep you in the loop."

"No, I want to do this. I'm going to get Bobby."

Demetrius just walked away. He didn't have time to argue. He needed to keep going and find his children. He found Bobby pretty quickly, and got him to join him in his car.

As they drove down the street, they saw FBI agents and local officers both questioning his neighbors about whether they had seen anything. They hadn't heard any reports from that yet, so Demetrius began to wonder if anyone had found anything yet.

They pulled up to the public library and went inside. It was a little after 9:00 now. D noticed that the library had opened at 8:00. That meant that it hadn't been open quite yet when the message was sent. D already had a line of questioning in mind for that.

They went to the front desk and asked for the head librarian. The woman at the desk pointed to another woman, who was already walking toward them. "Hello, can I help you?" she asked.

Bobby and D showed their badges. "I'm Demetrius Gans and this is Bobby Manning. We're with the FBI. We'd like to ask you a few questions."

"Sure. My name is Claire. What can I help you with."

D continued, "Were you hear when you opened this morning?"

"Yes, Jean and I were both here." she said gesturing toward the woman behind the front desk.

"Did anybody come in right when you opened, or was there anyone here already when you got here."

"Well no. It was just the two of us as usual."

Bobby spoke up. "We traced an e-mail back to this library. It was sent just before 8:00."

"How can that be? We weren't open yet, and nobody was here."

"What time do you unlock the doors?"

"We come in just a few minutes early to unlock the doors. No more than five minutes before we open. But that wouldn't be enough time for someone to go online and send an e-mail would it?"

Demetrius took over again. "Maybe not if they were using one of your computers, but this person was using a stolen lap top. Our information suggests that they used a cordless hook up."

"Oh. Well that's different. We do have one of those cordless remote units. It sits right behind the desk here. We have so many people come in that want to use the computers that they are always being used, every one. We make people sign up ahead of time. We got this unit so that people could bring in their own computers, namely lap tops, so that tney could still come and use our resources to study and still go online." She paused. "But still, there was nobody here when we got here this morning."

Bobby had a good question. "How close do you have to be to that unit to use it?"

"Well, that's a good question. I'm not sure. Let me go find the manual, and I'll look it up."

She walked away and went into here office. Demetrius and Bobby continued to ask questions of the other woman, Jean. "Do you get a lot of people using their lap tops in here?"

"Oh yes. All the time."

She pointed off to their left, and they saw 3 people using lap tops at a table against the wall. It was about 30 feet away.

D started looking around the library to see what other areas were within thirty feet. He looked out the door, and saw that if someone was standing outside the door, they would be within thirty feet.

"Jean, does that thing even work through walls? I mean if someone was standing within distance, but they were outside, would it still work?"

Both Bobby and Jean realized where he was going with this. "Yeah, I think so."

Bobby replied, "Then that's how someone could do it before you opened. But, they would also have had to know that it was there, and that it would work out there."

"Yeah." Jean replied.

D continued. "That means that whoever did this has been here before."

Bobby asked, "Did you see anyone outside when you got here?"

"No."

Claire returned with the manual in hand. "This says that you can get a good internet connection anywhere within 50 feet."

D looked out the window again. "That means that you could be parked on the side of the street, pull out your lap top, and get a connection."

"Well, I never thought of that." Claire responded.

Jean spoke up. "Oh wait. I remeber now that there was a light blue minivan parked out front when I got here. As I was walking toward the door, they pulled away."

"They?" asked Demetrius.

"Yeah, there were three men in the van."

"Did you see any of them holding a lap top computer?" asked Bobby.

Jean stopped and thought for a moment. "Yeah, actually, the one in the driver seat was closing a lap top as I walked by them."

"What did they look like?"

"Well, the one with the lap top looked to be about 60 or so, and he had white hair. He was wearing a red flannel shirt."

"And the others."

Well, they were younger. They looked like maybe they were in their late 20's or 30's. One had brown hair, and the other blond. I think they were both wearing plain white T-shirts. I couldn't really see much else."

Claire spoke up, "By the way. What's wrong with sending an e-mail anyway?"

D looked at Claire, and he was all serious. "Claire there's nothing wrong with sending an e-mail. It's what else they did that was wrong. The e-mail is only our means of tracking them down." Although D was trying to stay cool, he felt the anger welling up in him. He wanted those guys, and it showed in his voice.

Bobby clapped him on the shoulder. "Come on D. Let's see if we can find them."

"Yeah. Did you ladies see which way they went when they left?"

"Yes. They went that way, to the left."

"And by the way, did you notice the make and model of the van, or the liscense plate number."

"No, I'm not very good on that stuff."

Bobby closed the conversation. "Thanks ladies. You've been a great help."

They stepped out the door, and D looked to the left. He could see his house in the distance. Then he remembered what the first message said. "Do you know where your children are? I do?" That man meant it. He was literally able to see his children as they left his house.

I hope I could be as helpful as Jean if agents came to me asking for help. Wireless can be scary. I know it can be hard to keep it secure.

Eeekkkk!!!! Still really scared!!! great writing though!!!!

Jen

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Demetrius and Bobby got into the car. D drove slowly down the street, looking for some possibility of clues. "Bobby, keep an eye on the side of the street to see if anything looks like a clue. If you see anything, let me know."

They creeped past his house, and continued on. About 4 houses down, one of his neighbors came running toward the car. It was Mrs. White, a woman in her late 50's. She had been talking to a couple of local officers, but when she saw Demetrius she began to run and shout. "Mr. Gans! Mr. Gans!"

Demetrius stopped the car as she approached.

"Mrs. White, what is it?"

"Mr. Gans, " she said as she began to puff. "I saw your children this morning. The officers here said that they were missing."

The two officers stopped writing their notes and hustled behind her. When they got there, Demetrius told them, "It's alright fellows. I'm in charge of this investigation."

Mrs. White continued. "This morning, I saw your chuldren walking down the street here. There was another teenager with them. I'm not sure who it was, but I think it may have been one of the other children form down the street."

"Could you tell if it was a male or female?"

"Uh, yes. It was certainly a young man. Anyway, they were walking along talking, and then a light blue van pulled up. Another young man got out from the front seat and began to talk with them. It only lasted for a few seconds, and then they all got into the van and drove away. I thought that it was just one of the families from down the street giving the children a ride to the school. I didn't know they were being kidnapped!"

"Ok, Mrs. White, thank you. Did you see which way the van went when it left?"

"No, I only saw that it headed down the street that way toward the school."

One of the officers spoke up. "We had just finished getting the descriptions of the people in the van when you pulled up."

D's phone rang again. "Good." he said as he reached for his phone. "Share them with Bobby here so that we can compare with what we've got so far."

Then D answered his phone. It was Tara again. "D, I just finished tracing the second e-mail. It lead to another library in a town about fifteen miles from where you are now."

D wrote down all the information. As soon as Bobby had the descriptions, which were very similar to what the librarians had given, they headed back to the school to compare with Jack. When they caught up with him, they shared what they had, and spread the news among the searchers to look out for the light blue minivan. Jack then caught them up with what he had found. "The local investigator here had no lead on who stole the lap top. However, there was no sign anywhere of a break in, so that suggests that someone in the school did it. They just weren't able to figure out who."

"Check with the office and see who is absent today." said D. "I'm willing to bet that one of them is involved in this."

"I already did that. I got copies. Here's one for you."

Jack gave one to both D and Bobby. I've got Myles checking on some of these to see which ones have legitimate excuses, and which ones are playing hooky. Maybe we'll get a lead if one of them can't be found too quickly."

As D scanned the list, he didn't see any names sticking out to him. "Ok, let me know what happens with that. Bobby and I are going to that library the second e-mail came from. It's fifteen miles away. We'll call you if we find anything big."

D and bobby left, and about half way there, they noticed a light blue minivan on the side of the road.

They spotted a blue minivan, but will it be the one they are looking for. Good job, C.H.

Wow! What a start! I loved how your described D's routine. It lulled me into a feeling of safety. Then WHAMO. Can't wait to read more.

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"Well, what have we here?" asked Bobby as D pulled over near the van.

"Looks like we may have a matching description." commented D.

Bobby and D both got out of the car slowly, looking around with great caution. The last thing they would want is to fall into a simple trap because they weren't careful. Slowly, they approached the van, watching for any sign of movement. The van really appeared to be empty. Each one of them walked up a different side of the van, D on the driver's side, and Bobby on the passenger side.

As they moved past the windows, they looked in, and saw empty seats, all the way to the front. On the front seat, however, D noticed something. It was a lap top computer.

Bobby quickly but thoroughly looked under the van. "No sign of any loose wires or charges or anything."

D took a cloth from his pocket so that he wouldn't bother finger prints. He slowly opened the drivers door, being careful not to knock anything accidentally with his hands. Using the same cloth in the same hand, he reached down and opened the lap top, which was plugged in to the cigerette lighter on the dash. The screen was blank, like it hadn't been used in a while. D touched the mouse with a cloth covered finger. It was open to an e-mail account. There was a message on the screen that didn't appear to have been sent. It said, "Looking for this?"

I hope there is more to the message. D is keeping a pretty cool head.

hopefully they can get some prints or something useful off the van

cath

Ditto, C.H.Slater, you're really good at scaring me!!!!

Jen

This is really creepy. This guy is a step ahead of them all the way.

kav

You took the words right out of my mouth (or fingers, I gues), Kav!

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Bobby, with a cloth of his own, opened the sliding door on the passenger side. He had noticed something sitting under the middle seat. He carefully reached under it, and pulled out two backpacks. "Hey mate. These belong to your kids?"

Demetrius was finally able to pull his eyes off the screen of the lap top. He looked, and briefly nodded his head.

Bobby noticed the look on D's face. "What you got there?"

Without saying anything, D stepped back. Bobby came around and looked at the screen. When he saw what the screen said, he replied, "Well, well, well. He knew we were coming. How'd he know?"

"I don't know." responded D.

Bobby didn't stop his thought. "You know, there's something about this that doesn't seem right. I mean, he got your e-mail address. Somehow he got this lap top from the school. Somehow, he also knew we were coming, so he bailed out of this vehicle and left you a message. Not only does this have to be someone that knows you, he knows what you're doing. He knows what we're doing."

Demetrius got a wierd feeling, and he looked at Bobby. Bobby seemed to have the same feeling, as he looked at D with the same look.

D flipped open his phone and called Tara. "Hello."

"Tara, check all the phones there in the office. One or all of them may be bugged. When your done, call me back."

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Tara heard the click on the end of the phone, and she hung up. Then, she picked up the receiver and started pulling it apart. Sue saw what she was doing, but she didn't understand. "Tara, what are you doing?"

Tara glanced up quickly. "Hang on." After a few moments, she pulled a peice out from the receiver. She waved over Lucy and Sue. "See this?" They both nodded. Tara dropped it on the floor and crushed it with her foot. "Ladies, we have a mission. Check every phone in the office to see if there are more of these. If you find them, crush them."

They nodded, and went to work tearing apart phones.

------------------------------------------------

D and Bobby were both looking around cautiously. They knew that it was very possible that the ones who had kidnapped the children were not far away, maybe even watching them. It was a wooded area. As they kept a look out around them, they also continued to search the vehicle, being careful not to disturb any evidence. They didn't find anything more.

After about five minutes, D's phone rang. "Hello." It was Tara.

"D, we found a bug in every phone here in the office. I even found one in your office phone. They've all been destroyed."

"Good. We have found the kidnapper's van. The lap top is in it. It had an unsent message on it. It asked, 'Looking for this?' We realized that he somehow knew we were coming. Now we know how. Whoever this is, not only is he good with computers, but he has experience. He has some form of training. This isn't just some joe off the street. I just wish I could figure out who it is." The last sentence was spoken with frustration and anger.

"Thanks, Tara. Let me know if you find anything else."

He hung up and called Jack. "Hello, Jack. We found the minivan. I need you to come out here with a crime scene crew to check for prints and other clues." he told Jack right where they were. "Oh and Jack."

"Yeah."

"We found some stuff in the van, including the lap top and..."

D started to choke up at this point.

"D, are you alright? What is it."

"My kids back packs are here. There's no sign of them, but their stuff is here."

"Ok, D. Hang on, we're on our way."

Yikes! So what happens next? Is the kidnapper watching them? How'd he plant the bugs? And now that they found them what will he do? I think I'll start reading from under here
kav

i'm too scared to type so i'll ditto Kav!!!!!

Jen