What If

33. Five Minutes

St Vincent Hospital East Pavilion
12:18pm Portland, OR

Michael and I were waiting reluctantly outside of the hospital while Lydia went inside to try to find her mom. We both insisted on going in with her, but she wasn't having it. When we finally got Maria Sinclair's name from Lydia's father, it wasn't too hard to track her down. A few calls to Anne and she was able to give us the name of this hospital. The tricky part was finding out which hotel Lydia was in. By the time I was able to put an alert on her credit card, she had already rented the car. It was when she booked the room that I finally found her.

I couldn't even explain the relief that I felt when she opened that hotel room door. Seeing her there unharmed...I needed to feel her. I needed her in that moment more than anything else. The fact that she was just as eager for me, I think, is the reason I told her I loved her. I was afraid to say it to her at first. I was scared that she wasn't ready to hear it. Especially after I admitted everything I did. This morning I explained everything to her and we promised not to keep secrets. Of any kind.

"Have you gotten any updates yet?" Michael asked as he walked up behind me.

I speed-dialed Anne. "Not yet. I'm calling her now." I had Anne running facial recognition for PSYCHO Amy. I really hoped she got something fast because the longer we used that, the bigger the risk of the NYPD finding out.

"Hello, Mr. Williams," Anne said into the phone.

"Hey, any luck?"

"Nothing yet regarding Amy. I was just about to call you, actually. We finally got some results back regarding the incident from July 4th. It appears someone did try to tamper with your security."

I fucking knew it. I was surprised it took this long to get some results. "Do we know who it was?"

"James Adams."

My heart dropped into my stomach. "What?"

"Yea, sir. It appears he implanted some kind of virus that continued to search through some of your private files."

When she stopped, I knew I wasn't going to like what she said next.

"What did he get access to, Anne?"

"The facial recognition software, and something else..."

There's more? I knew I should have beat that guy's ass in Atlantic City. Or better yet, I should have sent his ass to jail the last time he did this.

"What else, Anne?"

"It appears he had access to the restraining order you have against Amy. My gut tells me he's the one who helped her escape. Perhaps he's using her obsession with you to his advantage."

This is bad. This is really bad. James was a piece of shit, but he was smart. If he had gotten access to my software, then he could have found us already. He knew we would be searching for Amy, but we had no idea to look for him, too. He and Amy must have been staying off the fucking radar while we are out here like sitting ducks.

"Anne, I need you to call Sheriff Mills at the 61st. Tell him I'm calling in my favor. Have him reach out to Portland law enforcement and get James' and Amy's pictures everywhere. He knows about the facial recognition software, so tell him everything that's going on. Also, make sure to tell them to watch all financials and have him pull any strings he can. He knows money isn't a problem here."

"Will do, Mr. Williams."

"Thank you." Hanging up the phone I looked to Michael.

"This is bad," he said as he crossed his arms over his chest.