What If

35. Promises

Underground Tunnel
2:49pm

"Fuck!" I yelled as I hung up the cell phone and tried my hardest not to throw it against the wall. I was seriously losing it.

"You heard her voice, right? She's okay?" Michael's tone was a desperate plea. He was just as freaked as I was.

"Yeah. She's okay." Aside from the slap I heard over the phone. Not to mention, when she cried out from pain.

I looked over to Dr. Sinclair. Lydia's mom insisted on coming with us. She even brought a medical bag with her. Just in case. God, when she came out of the hospital with that bag...I lost it.

"What the hell do you have that for?" I snarled at her.

"She could be injured! Or worse!" The doc shot back.

"She's fucking fine! There's nothing wrong with her."

"Sean," Michael interrupted. "You need to take a breath. I know this is hard. I'm just as worried as you are. You need to calm down."

"Cam down? Really? The woman I love just got kidnapped by a PSYCHO stalker and a revenge-seeking-asshole! Because of me!"

Dr. Sinclair dropped her bag and placed her hands on either side of my face. "Listen to me and listen good. This isn't your fault. She is my daughter. I've looked for her for twenty-eight years. I just found her, and you can be damned sure I'm not going to lose her after an hour of meeting her." She held my gaze and I knew there were tears running down my face. "Do you understand me, Sean? We will get her back. There is no what if."

She was able to knock some sense into me. Enough at least to get us somewhere where our location couldn't be traced. The key was to stay off their radar until we found them on ours.

"We were able to narrow the trace to a five-mile radius," The Chief of Police said from in front of a computer.

My contact in the NYPD came through and I had the assistance of Portland P.D and the F.B.I. One of the reasons I agreed to help create the upgraded facial recognition software was because I knew, one day, there could be a chance I would need a favor. Turns out, that day was today.

"Where?" I asked.

"About twenty-five minutes from here. South."

She's only twenty-five minutes away. I wanted to get in the car and go after her. Now. But I knew that wasn't the right call. If I wanted to get her out of there alive, I needed to let the professionals handle the rescuing.

"What's your play?" I asked F.B.I Special Agent Caffrey.

"We're going to wait for the next call. When he sets up the meet, we'll get people in position. We'll have eyes in the sky. Since we narrowed it down to a five-mile radius, they shouldn't have a problem spotting him. When they do, we'll see where she's being held and if they are bringing her to the meet." He typed something in his phone before he continued, "If she stays behind, our guys will move in to get her safely once James has left."

"The exchange?" I asked.

"You're going to the exchange as planned. You'll be wearing an earpiece and a camera. We'll have your back."

"No," Michael interrupted.

Our heads turned towards him and he had a pissed off look on his face. "Hell, no."

"It has to be me, Mike. He's expecting me."

"I don't give a fuck." Mike got in my face and his expression concerned me. "Look, Sean, I know I just met you, but my little sister is beyond in love with you. If something happens to you, it won't matter if she survives. She'll wish she was dead."