Vanished

Warning

"Slow down, Ellie," I urged. I received a frantic phone call from her, but couldn't understand what she was saying. "Who was at your work?"

She muttered something under her breath, but slowed down and spoke clearer. "Some man I recognized from Boston."

"Boston?"

"Yes, he was there when I was outside BioloGen, waiting for you to finish working."

All the alarm bells inside my brain went off at the same time and I immediately began to scan my surroundings through the kitchen window, even though I knew there was no way that man was here, since he was by Ellie, but there could be others.

"Where are you?" I demanded, desperate to know she was safe before I asked her anything else.

"In my office."

"Are you safe?"

"Yes," she responded, but there was a slight tremble in her voice.

"Are you sure you're safe?"

"Yes, Austin," she snapped back. "Only employees are allowed inside the building, you know that."

And visitors. Granted, they'd need a temporary badge, but they could get inside.

And if the man she'd seen was the kind of man I suspected he was, he wouldn't care about either of those rules. He would just barge his way inside. But I didn't tell Ellie that.

"Where is the man?" I asked instead.

"He left in a dark sedan before I went inside."

"What's going on?" my brother asked from his computer chair. I looked over and found him staring at me with a deep worry wrinkle between his brows.

"Ellie, I'm gonna put you on speaker," I said, knowing this was something my brother needed to hear as well. I walked over to the computer desk and put the phone down on top of it.

"Okay."

"What's going on, Ellie?" my brother asked and dove right into the issue.

Once Ellie finished her detailed account of what had taken place that morning, we reassured her we'd look into it. She hung up as she needed to go back to work, while me and my brother just starred at each other.

"I don't fucking know what to say," my brother grumbled as he got up and walked into the kitchen while I sunk down on the couch next to Bear. This was exactly what I'd been afraid of.

I heard by brother open a couple of cabinets in the kitchen. He returned a minute later with our bottle of Jameson and two shot glasses.

I raised an eyebrow but didn't question him, or point out the fact that it was like seven o'clock in the morning. I need that whiskey burn just as much as he did.

An hour later, we'd finished half the bottle and still hadn't spoken a word to each other. The fear that I'd had ever since we left Georgia in the first place was coming to fruition, and not in a good way.

All I'd ever wanted was for Ellie to be happy and safe. And if I somehow got to be a part of her life in some small way, that was a bonus. But now, after spending time with her in Boston and in Memphis, I'd gotten so caught up in our love affair that I must've somehow missed something...

I couldn't even fathom that Ellie could be in danger because of me. Or that wasn't completely true. I thought she'd be safe if she was far away from me, but now I wasn't so sure.

Would she be safer if I once again cut off all communication and went dark? Because I'd do it in a second if it meant she'd be safe. Or did we step up our protection and include her?

I leaned my head back against the couch and groaned out my frustration.

"I don't know what the fuck to do," I told my brother, who was slumped on the love seat.

"Damn," my brother groaned and pushed himself up. "I do. I need to do some tracing and run some searches. Maybe alcohol wasn't the smartest idea."

Maybe not, but it had dulled some of the immediate panic.

"I'll make us breakfast," I offered. A carbohydrate full breakfast should soak up most of the alcohol.

Bear got up after me and shook himself awake. It was like he realized that something big was happening. His paws padded quietly behind me when I walked into the kitchen. The only sound in the house came from the air conditioning and my brother's occasional tapping on the keyboard. It should have been a calming sound, and a safe and relaxed environment, but I was feeling anything but calm.

It was with a heavy heart and an even heavier conscience that I flipped pancakes on the old stove. If I hadn't given in to Ellie, we might not be here. Or more specifically, she wouldn't be in danger.

"Fucking hell!" my brother shouted, and I whipped around so fast I flung a pancake on the floor, which Bear happily devoured in a couple of seconds.

"What?"

I shut the stove off, pushed the pan to the side burner and hurried over towards the computer screens where my brother had some video playing. It took me a while to recognize what it was and when I did, my knees almost buckled beneath me.

It was my worst nightmare come true.

"It's him..."

My brother tapped a few keys which enlarged the image on the screen. A man stood outside a building I assumed was the BioloGen building where Ellie worked in Georgia. He was hidden in the shadows, but when he stepped out of them, it was as clear as day. It was the same man that had followed me around in Boston, and probably the same one that had shot Dana.