Protecting Sunshine

13. 10 Versus Tim

"Sunshine is missing," Tim reported into his radio and took off at a run towards the monitor room- it was the only place in the building that would give him answers about where Lucy went.

Truthfully, he is aware she likes to escape, but he was so afraid for her safety for some indescribable reason. Once he stepped into the expansive room with screens showing security coverage from around the White House, he practically shoved Agent Jan out of his seat to start looking at cameras that surround the building.

"She's probably not missing, Tim, there's no reason to overreact," Angela tried to say calmly.

Before he could formulate a reply, Tim thought about the weaknesses in security. The service entrance would be the easiest to escape out of, so he focused his efforts on looking at those cameras and rewinding the footage.

There she was on the monitor, looking sad with her hands wrapped around herself, and Tim's heart stuttered at the sight. Once she was out of view of the first camera, he searched for further footage. That's when he saw someone approach her from behind, and within seconds, Lucy was entering the back of a van.

With emotion thickening his throat, he couldn't speak, but he knew he needed to find Grey. He bolted through corridors until he reached the ballroom again. Everyone seemed to be having a great time. HOW could people be enjoying themselves when Lucy had been TAKEN?

"Sunshine's been taken," Tim whispered to Grey so as not to disturb the party.

"Taken?" His eyes snapped away from the President to look at his agent. "Are you sure?"

"I need a team to identify the abductors, and we need to get her back. Now."

Grey and Tim strutted out of the ballroom. The Head of Security was barking out orders into his radio, but all Tim could do was think about the fact that someone had Lucy. Even from the grainy footage, he could see that someone had pressed a gun into Lucy's back, and the idea that someone had pointed a weapon at his girl made his heart stop.

Tim stood frozen in the conference room while the FBI agents combed through footage to follow where the van went, but at some point, there was no surveillance to locate Lucy and the van.

No leads.

No way to find Lucy.

His mind blurred at the abysmal intel gathered by the FBI. How could the President's daughter have been abducted and NO ONE knew where she was. Tim shouldered out of the double doors to find Angela waiting outside of the conference room.

"Any leads?" She asked.

"NO! These IDIOTS lost her!" He growled and continued barreling down the hallway.

"Where are you going?" Angela called after him.

"We should be kicking down doors!"

"Whose doors? We don't have any leads, Tim."

"Then, I'll start driving around the last location we could find the van."

"Maybe you should take a breath for a second. The FBI will find her."

"Someone put a gun to her back and forced her to go...she's missing, Angela," his voice broke on the word "missing", but he didn't even care.

"I know, but there are a hundred cops and agents looking for her. We'll get her back," she promised. Even if she was not completely confident in that fact, she had to hope, and based on the look in his eyes, Angela wanted to offer a little comfort to Tim who looked devastated.

"Lucy...the last thing I said to her...I told her I didn't want to keep being around her," he dropped his head.

Angela waited, watching him, and silently allowing him the space to continue gathering his thoughts.