Kidnapped

Chapter 1

"Take one more step, and I'll pull the trigger."

Toby's stomach churned. This wasn't supposed to be happening. The case was supposed to be simple, low profile. But now the Russian convict, Yuri, had Happy at gunpoint and Toby had never felt so useless.

"Okay, buddy, just let her go and we'll talk about this." Walter prompted. Happy's eyes were locked on Toby, pleading for him to do something.

"Oh, that's not going to happen. Hand over the software and we'll hand over the girl." Yuri barked.

Toby glanced at Walter and saw his distress. They hadn't finished coding the software, a fact they hadn't told Yuri. There was no way to make the trade.

"We'll have to go back to the garage and get it. Give Happy back to us and we'll bring you the software." Walter lied.

Toby still hadn't moved. His brain had seemed to stop working; he couldn't find any possible way to rescue Happy.

"No." Yuri sighed. "We'll take the girl with us. If you don't have the software ready in 24 hours, you'll get her back. Or what's left of her."

"No!" Toby shouted. "Take me instead. Please."

Toby's pleading seemed to interest the Russian.

"We'll take her. Have the software ready. We'll contact you."

And with one last, desperate glance, Happy was gone.

**

Back at the garage, with no distractions, he couldn't help but be pulled into his thoughts. How could he have let this happen? He should've insisted she stay at the garage, out of harm's way.

Now he was left with a fist - shaped hole in the wall, an overactive imagination and a broken heart. He had to save her.

"Walter! How far are you with the coding?" Toby asked while running his hands through his hair. His stomach was a knot of dread, even more dread than he had when he was the one in danger.

Walter's expression faltered. His eyebrows knit together and his lips curved downward. "Toby, uh," he murmured. "Sly's done the math, and there's no way we'll be able to code this in time. I'm sorry."

No.

"No, you're wrong. If anyone can do it, you can. Walter, this is Happy we're talking about. We cannot lose her. I cannot lose her."

Walter shook his head. "Toby, it's not possible."

"Wait," Sylvester interrupted, "What if we tried to save Happy ourselves?"

Cabe shook his head. "That won't work. These are highly - trained professional killers. There's no way you kids could put yourself in danger like that."

"No. No, you guys don't understand. We need to find Happy. Oh God." Toby groaned.

Toby put his head between his knees. This couldn't be happening. His heart clenched and his lungs seemed to be make of fire.

"Wait, I might not be as smart as you guys but I have an idea." Paige said.

Toby looked up. "Anything. Anything you think could help."

"Well maybe if we hacked into the Russian Federation and did some digging on the convict, we could find where he took her." Upon receiving no approval, Paige shrugged. "I'm sorry, it was a stupid idea -"

"No, wait," Walter rushed to his computer. "That's actually not such a bad idea. If Sly and I start now, it would only take a few hours. We could find them in time to save Happy."

"Well what are you waiting for? Get going!" Cabe barked, and Paige looked a bit impressed with herself.

"Toby, once we have their records, you need to analyse them and determine where she could be. Do you think you could do that?" Walter asked.

"Yeah, yeah I could." Toby whispered. He didn't know how much longer he could stand this.

"Then we'd better start."

**

He wondered what they were doing to her.

Yuri certainly was the violent type. Toby was sure he had a gang that would help him watch her. If they so much as touched her. . .

"Toby!" Walter's voice interrupted Toby's thought. "We have the info. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, sure. Where is it?"

"Here," Walter handed the laptop to Toby. "Good luck."