Chapter 30

                                    

                                          
Daniel POV
I sat in my office, signing papers absentmindedly.  My head was on Brooke.  After her understandable storm off this afternoon, we went our different ways to give her space.  
When Marcus had gone to check on her, he heard loud snores and immediately left her to rest.  After patching us up the night before, she deserved it.
The clock chimed 3 AM and I dropped my pen in exhaustion.  It was a little early to call it quits, but in my defense it had been a very long 24 hours.
I flicked off my lights and shuffled up the stairs, pausing as I remembered that Lucas had been shot the night before and someone should probably check on him.
I knocked on his door and waited for an answer, opening the door when I heard a response.  I walked in to see him sitting on his bed, flicking through our cable channels with his leg propped on a pillow.
"Hey Lucas.  How do you feel?"
He gave me a crooked grin and shrugged.  "I'm fine.  Brooke made sure to leave me enough painkillers with a schedule of when and how many to take."
I looked at the floor in shame.  Brooke remembered to take care of him even when she was angry at us, and I couldn't even remember to check on him.
He saw my shifts and sighed.  "We messed up.  We should have told her immediately."
I nodded.  "Yeah.  But she was in a really vulnerable spot when she first came here, and I'm not sure how she would have handled it.  It was a 'damned if you do, damned if you don't' kind of situation."
He made a noncommittal noise and said, "I guess.  But it still sucks.  Have you checked on her at all?"
"I was about to, I just wanted to see how you were doing first.  Try to get some sleep, it's been a long day."
Lucas nodded at me and gestured at the door.  "Go check on our girl."
I crept down the hallway towards Brooke's door, hoping I wouldn't wake her.  I slowly opened the door, frowning when I realized I didn't hear any snoring.
My hand dropped from the doorknob as I stared at the scene before me.  The bed was empty, rumpled.  Her curtains blew gently in the breeze from the open window and her closet door was wide open.
For a few seconds I couldn't think.  All that ran through my mind was Brooke is gone.  Brooke is gone.
"MARCUS!"  I screamed, trying to keep myself calm.
Marcus rushed in wearing only a pair of plaid pajama pants, rubbing his eyes blearily and holding a gun.  "What?  What's going on with Brooke?"
"She's gone.  Marcus, she's gone.  Oh God, where did she go," I was hyperventilating, my eyes seeing black spots.  
"Daniel?  Daniel, look at me."  Marcus grabbed my shoulders.  "Hey.  You're fine.  Breathe with me.  In 1, 2, out, 3, 4.  In 1, 2, out 3, 4."
I breathed shakily, sinking to my knees in shock.  "Now, what's going on?"  Marcus looked around in confusion.  "Where's Brooke?"
"I-I don't know.  I came in to check on her, and...she's gone."

"Alright let's think," Marcus said calmly, though I could sense his rising panic.  "Could she have gone downstairs for a snack?  She didn't have dinner."
I shook my head wildly.  "I was just down there.  No lights were on and I didn't hear anything.  Do you think she ran?"
"It wouldn't be the first time," he sighed, walking over to the open window.  "But this ladder doesn't bode well for that option."
I shot up from the ground and stared at the long ladder propped up against her window.  "She couldn't have brought that ladder here herself.  What other option is there?"
"I don't kno..." Marcus's voice trailed off as he stared at the fuzzy rug at the foot of Brooke's bed.  Clearly drawn in the opposite direction of the grain of the rug was "KDNPED"
"KIDNAPPED?  Brooke was kidnapped?"  Michael sat on Lucas's bed, jaw dropped as we broke the news.
Marcus nodded grimly and turned his iPad around to show the security feed.  Brooke descended the ladder, followed by a man in black, something glinting in his left hand.  
"Is that a gun?" Lucas gasped.  Marcus just pressed his lips together and gripped the iPad tighter.
The video continued, showing Brooke walking rather carelessly across our lawn and stopping outside a dirty white van.  
After a brief exchange, she entered the vehicle, but not without giving a cheeky wave while staring directly at the hidden security camera.
"So that's all we know," Marcus said, slamming the iPad down and looking around with a bleak look.
"Why are we still here?"  I demanded angrily.  "Why aren't we tracking her, or putting out a hit on the van?"
"I've got our best men working on it now," Marcus said sternly.  "We've sent out cars in the direction the van was heading and notified the police to be on the lookout for that van.  
"I just didn't want to leave Lucas here alone with a bullet wound," he muttered.  "Not after last night."
"Screw me, go find Brooke, NOW!" screamed Lucas in anger.  
A buzz from Marcus's phone interrupted our hasty exit from Lucas's room as an unintelligible voice spoke, changing Marcus's facial expression 20 different times before landing on a mixture of worry and relief. 
He hung up the phone and said, "They found Brooke.  She was in a car accident.  The kidnapper is dead, she's unconscious but stable."
"What the hell are we waiting for, let's go!"  I stood up and rushed out of Lucas's room, making it to the front door before realizing I didn't know where they took Brooke.
Marcus and Michael quickly joined me as I rubbed the back of my neck sheepishly.  "It just occurred to me that I don't know where they took her."
Marcus rolled his eyes.  "Yeah, I figured.  Otherwise you'd be halfway to our clinic already.  Come on, I'll drive."
The car ride was tense, the only sound being the low hum of the smooth engine.
"What can we expect?" asked Michael abruptly.  Marcus sighed.  "I don't know.  I hung up before they gave me details.  I just wanted to know if she was alright, then I stopped listening."
 The car screeched to a halt in front of the private clinic, and we jumped out, yanking our seatbelts off aggressively.
A/N they just cannot catch a break, can they?