Interaction 3

Gina’s actions spoke to her more than anything else. She knew then what Mark had been looking over to the others and saw. She was about to lose it. Mark sensed the oncoming storm and whispered something to boogs as he placed him on the ground, and then he wrapped his arms around her.

“It’s okay. I promise it is okay,” he whispered in her ear.

“She wasn’t at his house,” she said softly.

“No.,” he said back. “Look, they are with the kid's father, right? That has to mean something.”

“It depends on which father,” she said.

“What do you mean by that?” he asked.

“He has two dads. One of them is perfectly normal. He fits in with people who can talk to them and has no issues. The other is weird. Something about him was off. Reena thought so and would never do anything if that one was going to be the other driver. She didn’t like him or the way he looked at her. I didn’t either, really. The few times we all did something as a group, he gave me the chills. All the kids didn’t like him.” she replied.

“So, he has two dads?” Mark asked.

“He was adopted as well. It was a thing that bonded the two of them. She has only me, and he has two dads.” she said.

“Oh, okay,” he replied.

“That isn’t an issue with you, is it?” she asked.

“No, No. just took me a minute to understand. Whatever people do, that is their business,” he said with a smile.

“Except when it is my daughter,” she said.

“Except when it is your daughter, you are right,” he replied.

“Mom?” Lista asked.

“What?” she asked back.

“Why are the dogs here?” Lista asked.

“They can’t think?’, Krissy said as she tried to pull away from him, but he held her tighter.

“Just a precaution, mouse,” he said.

“Where the hell is she?” she asked.

“That I have no clue. Do you all have iPhones?” he asked.

“Yes,” she replied.

“Can I see your phone?” he asked, and she handed it over without a thought.

“Precaution for what?” Lista asked.

“They use dogs to help find people, sweetheart,” Mark said. “It only means they are still looking for her here.” He was looking at the phone, and then he turned to look at her. “Type your apple password, Mouse.” He said, holding out the phone.

“What? Why?” she asked.

“Trust me,” he said. She took the phone and typed in the password, and then handed the phone back. He was waiting for something though he had the phone close to his face and above her head. He still had her pinned against him to keep her steady on her feet.

“Do you think that your male friend could keep his hands off of you at this time?” she heard come from in back of her. Her father appeared in front of her.

“Bloody hell, dad,” she said. “No, I think his next move is to ravish me right here in the middle of this.”

“Krissy, please.” her father said. Mark had to swallow a bark of laughter at her comment. She could feel him silently chuckling, though.

“Dad, he is helping me, which is more than I can say for you,” she said. “Reena is your granddaughter, but you are acting like this is my fault. Why don’t you think that through a bit.”

“You shouldn’t have let her come her with a boy.” her father spat.

“Oh yes, because you never let us come to the mall either when we were all kids?” she said back.

“Not with a boy!” he said righteously.

“Bull dad, we all met boys here,” she said.

“Not my daughters,” he said, shocked.

“Dad, yes, your daughters, all five of them.” she replied, “Hate to burst your bubble, dad, but we were all pretty normal kids.”

“Sir, I know this not the time to be blaming anyone for anything. Krissy needs support right now, not comments dismissing her parenting skills. She is, after all, human and the mother to four kids. I am just trying to help her get through this until we can find her daughter.” Mark said calmly. “Krissy, I have something.”

“What?” she asked.

“The tracking app on your phone,” he said, and she turned to look at it.

“What about it. It said her phone was off when I looked,” she said.

“Her phone is back on, and it is moving,” he said as he motioned for the police to get the detective. His team also came over and saw the app working. They took note, and one walked away to relay the information and the possible location of the phone to the group who had left to go to his house. Mark shared the information with the detective.

“It is moving too fast to be walking or running. She has to be in the car, right?” Krissy asked.

“Krissy, I hope so, but at least her phone is still in the car,” Mark said. ‘That is all I can really say.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

“For?” he asked. “I wish I could lie and say it was her, but I can’t and won’t.”

“For that reason. Mark, I want her to be okay. I want this all to go away. But I would also like to know what is really going on instead of people coddling me and saying it is going to be okay and then it isn’t.” she said.

“I won’t lie to you,” he said.

“Good,” she replied as she watched the swarm of cop cars take off toward where the app was showing them.

“Shouldn’t you hit the page the phone thing?” Gina asked.

“No.,” she said. She didn’t even hear Mark answer the same thing.

“Gina, if you did that, the phone would make a forced sound even if she had the sound turned off. The phone was off, but somehow it is back on. She either turned it off, or they did. She must have turned the phone back on. If you make the phone make a sound, it could turn ugly quick, and no one wants that. My team was en route before the cops, so they will be able to get close to the car to see if she is visible.” Mark explained. She nodded, knowing that he had told the truth to both her and her mom. She went back to the wall next to where she had taken her brother and sister. Their grandfather was not that far away.

“Are they close?” she asked Mark, who was now looking over to the one on the phone getting a play-by-play. He guided her over to them.

“I think she should wait over there.” The leader said.

“She deserves to hear what is going on,” Mark said. “Good or bad, it isn’t us who has to live with it. She does.”

“You feel that strongly about it?” the leader asked.

“Yes,” Mark said.

“Fine. They are a street away,” he said to her, and then they put the phone on speaker.

“I see the minivan. It was blue, right?” the person on the phone asked.

“Affirmative.” the one holding the phone near her said.

“Moving up to the side. We are at a light. One adult Hispanic male driving looks like a teenager male in the front seat. He is white and a car seat in the middle row. No girl that we can see.” the voice said on the phone. “We are going to drop back and watch when the police come.”

“Is the driver dark-skinned or light-skinned?” she asked.

“Did you hear that, Shingen?” Mark asked.

“Light,” he replied. Her body shivered.

“That the one?” Mark asked.

“Yes,” she said. “Gina?”

“What, mom?” she asked as she hurried over.

“Call Aunt Susie. Tell her what is going on and that I need her at the house to see if Reena is there,” she said. She looked up, “My sister lives down the street from me. If they dropped her off at the house and she left her phone in the car, she wouldn’t be able to call me to let me know where she is.”

“Smart idea.” One of the guys said.

“Look, I know it is me grasping at something.” she started, “But please understand this is my kid.”

“We do, Krissy.” the one holding the phone said. “That is why we are here. It is your kid. You are one of ours. We protect our own. We will be here with you until we find her.”

She let out the breath she was holding in and nearly collapsed. Mark braced her up as he had been. “Thank you,” she said. She looked at him, “This isn’t going to end well, is it?”

“We don’t know that,” Mark said as he tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. “Mouse, we don’t know much of anything yet.”

“Why does it seem like forever?” she asked.

“It has only been an hour and a half since we got here.” the leader said. “Time is slower in a time of panic.”

“Thanks for that,” she replied sarcastically.

“Roadblock ahead. And five units coming up behind us. Pulling over.” the voice on the phone said.

“Is the van?” one of the guys here said.

“No….no….yes they are.” one of the others said. They all let out a sigh of relief that it wasn’t going to be a standoff between the people in the car and the police. “They are breaching the minivan. Hold on….. Wait a second.” The line went silent for a second. She had her breath held tight. She was getting light-headed. “We have a problem.”

“Problem?” everyone asked. She knew she was going to pass out in a moment if they didn’t say something.

“She is blonde, right?” the voice asked.

“Yes,” she responded.

“Oh god.” the voice in the car said.

“What?” she asked as her heart sank.

“They found her hair.” the voice said.

“Her hair?” she asked.

“They are arresting the adult and the teenager right now.” the voice said.

“Her hair?” she asked again.

“Yes.” the voice responded.

“Just her hair?” she asked.

“Yes.” the voice said.

“Aunt Susie said she isn’t there,” Gina said.

“I know.” Krissy replied.”Call your uncle Drew. Tell him what is going on, and I need him to come to get you now.”

“Mom, I don’t want to go,” she said.

“Gina, please do what I say,” she said. Behind her, Mark looked at the girl and nodded. She turned away and made the call. “We know where she is not.”

“That’s it. I am calling the guards.” One of them said. “They can have an helio up in five minutes with heat-seeking capabilities.”

“That’s a good idea.” the leader said. They all looked at the woman they barely knew, but she was one of theirs. They had no idea the private hell she was in at the moment, but each of them made a promise that they would see it through to the bitter end. The fact that they had the girl's hair in the car was not a good sign, and even the woman seemed to know that. She had steeled herself for the worse, and they knew that could not be easy for anyone to do. That was why she was sending the kids to be with their uncle because she was going to go on the hunt with them. Everything changed in those few minutes as the police pulled the van over and found the hair. The people in the car chasing them knew it, the people here knew it, and so did she.

She walked over to the police detective and asked, “What next?”

“Next, we question them at the PD, then we narrow down the search grid,” he said.

“So while you have them in a room asking them questions, my daughter is in the cold god knows where and you narrow down the search grid?” she asked, making sure she heard him correctly.

“Yes, ma’am,” he replied.

“Screw that,” she said, and she turned to the team of men standing just far enough away. “Get the helios up.”

“Helios?” the detective asked.

“You go do your job, detective. I will do mine,” she said with more strength than any of them had ever seen.