A Child's Courage.

The Program.

Later that day, as the children piled out of the school for home, Michael’s small group walked together, discussing the success of their project.

“I simply can not believe we actually found eleven missing children in two hours alone!” said Rick, excited. “What a success! Our parents are going to flip!”

“I never knew Hannah had a missing brother.” said Kelly, genuinely happy. “I’m sort of glad he was the first kid we found.”

“But there is still a lot of work to do.” said Michael. “There are a lot of missing children who will not get pictured inside school year books.”

“I’ll start work on a program that will access the police computer files on young John and Mary Does.” said Race. “We can integrate it into the program when it’s finished.”

“Young John and Mary Does?” asked Kelly.

“People, or in this case, children who can not be readily identified by any normal means such as fingerprints or picture identification.” replied Rick. he turned to Race. “Isn’t it illegal to be nosing around inside the police computers?”

“Not if the information is posted on public record.” said Race.

“Kelly and I will get cracking on the half way house and runaway hot line internet files.” said Rick. “It shouldn’t be too hard to gain access to their records.”

“That’s not a bad idea.” said Michael. he turned to Race. “While you try your luck with the police web sites, I’ll see if I can’t get into the battered women’s files.”

“Why there?” asked Rick.

“Because, some women take their children and run. It’s not because they can’t stand their husbands, but because they feel they need to protect themselves and their children from an abusive father.”

“I see.” said Rick. He thought a moment. “But those files supposed to be confidential. How do believe you are going to gain access to them?”

“I’m not sure yet.” said Michael. “But if I am successful, that part of the program will only be for the eyes of the law. Do you have any ideas of how you are going to tackle the halfway houses and runaway files?”

“Well, as surprising as it may seem, all runaways can gain access to the hot line through the internet at any local library to get help and as for the half way houses....”

As the group talked, Amy caught sight of an ominously black van with dark tinted windows parked at the curb only a few hundred yards away from them. Remembering all of the terrifying nightmares that had been plaguing her for the past year, she swallowed hard, holding back the powerful urge to run for her very life. Inside the van, a slim, shady man in a black business suit watched the small group of children from behind the steering wheel.

“That’s them.” he said. “The short one with the gray back pack is our target.”

“He shouldn’t pose too much of a problem, Hank.” said a blurry, muscular man sitting in the passenger seat. When do you want to make your move?”

“Not now, Jon.” replied Hank. “There are too many people around, a clean capture here would be impossible. His house was rigged for surveillance several days ago. We know that the child is left at home alone on a number of occasions. All we need but to do is wait outside until an opportunity arises for us to strike.”

Jon nodded then turned to look at the group. As he did, he let out a small laugh. “Hey, isn’t that the same girl we snatched a few years ago?”

Hank turned to the group and smiled. “Yeah, Anna Eve wasn’t it? It is a small world.”

The smile left his face. “I wonder, could her involvement with that group trigger her to remember who she really is and what had happened to her?”

Jon shrugged. “Beats me.” he said. “But we can’t worry about that now, we have to focus on the boy. Our clients are paying us a fortune to have him in their arms by the end of the year.”

Hank nodded in agreement and started the van’s engine. The sound of the motor caused Amy to jump in fright as small gasp escaped her lips.

“Uh, Michael?” she asked, keeping an eye on the black van.

“Yes, Amy?” asked Michael, turning to her.

“Could you please walk me home? I- I really don’t feel like being alone right now.”

Michael smiled. “Sure. I live just a few houses down from you anyway.”

“Well, I’ll see you guys later then.” said Rick.

Michael nodded. “Right. We will meet with each other tomorrow at my place.”

“What time’s good for you?” asked Race.

“Let’s make it some time around noon. That way we can all discuss our progress and ideas over lunch.”

“Sounds good to me.” said Kelly. She turned to Rick. “Come on, let’s get to your place so we can get started.”

The group parted ways, Rick and Kelly left together down one street as Race casually walked away alone, down another. As Amy walked with Michael behind Rick and Kelly, she kept a close eye on the black van as it casually drove passed her, disappearing down the street. As it vanished from sight, Amy could not help but shudder in fear. Walking along side her, Michael saw Amy shudder.

“Okay, kid.” he said. “What’s wrong?”

Amy let out a small, nervous laugh, trying her best to hide her near paralyzing fear. “Just a bad dream I had last night.” she said.

Later that day, inside Rick’s bedroom, Rick and Kelly sat next to each other, talking and laughing as they each took turns working on Rick’s computer.

“Did you catch the look on Principal Trake’s face when that mob of reporters charged into the gymnasium?” asked Kelly with a laugh.

“Yeah.” said Rick, laughing as well. “I thought he was going to faint! Aren’t you glad you agreed to finally join up with Michael’s group?”

“I am now.” said Kelly, blushing slightly. “But as you said earlier, I was really always a part of the team, even before I officially signed up.”

The computer beeped and Rick let out a weary sigh.

“These web sites have so many security checks it’s almost intolerable.” he said.
“Well, they do have to protect the rights of these children.” said Kelly, taking her turn on the computer. “Even if they are runaways, recovering alcoholics, or whatever.”

The computer beeped at her as well and she let out a similar sigh of frustration. “However, it is a pain to get through to their records.”

“We don’t need all of children’s records.” said Rick, typing on the computer. “All we really need is their picture, name and present location.”

The computer beeped at the two again and Rick leaned back in his chair, frustrated. “Let’s take a break.” he said. “Maybe after a short rest we can find a way to tackle this from another direction.”

Kelly snapped her fingers. “That’s it!” she said, taking her turn on the keyboard.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, if we can’t get deeper into the web sites through the front door, maybe we can find a back door somewhere.”

“I’ve thought of that, Kelly. But we want to to do this legally, remember?”

“I know, I know.” said Kelly, quickly. “But all we need from this web site is the internet addresses of every halfway house and runaway shelter in the country.”

“We could gain access to it through the front door like everyone else.”

Kelly nodded. “That’s true enough.” she said. She then turned and gave him a quick wink. “But doing it this way will save us several hours of work at the computer.”

The computer beeped one more time but instead of giving the two an error message or an access denied warning, it filled the screen with a number of internet addresses and web sites, all directing them to half way houses and runaway shelters throughout the country. Kelly let out an excited yell and gave Rick a quick hug.

“It worked!” she said, letting Rick go. “We make quite the team, don’t you think?"

Rick nodded, blushing slightly. But before he could utter a word, the complex ham radio system on the other side of the room came to life with Emily’s voice.

“Hello! My name is Emily! If anyone can hear me, we need help, we are on the A list!”

Rick dashed over to the controls, grabbed the mike and hit the transmit button. “I can hear you Emily!” he said. “For Pete’s sake, please answer me!”

Emily’s plea again repeated and Rick, out of frustration, threw the mike down onto the table. It bounced up, off of the surface, and hit one of the dials, turning it slightly.

“Calm down, Rick.” said Kelly, turning from the computer. “Who is this Emily?”

Rick let out a weary sigh. But again, before he could speak, he heard the sound of a boy’s frustrated voice coming over the speaker.

“This is Bob! Come on, Emily, please answer us! Where are you!?!”

Rick snatched up the mike, struggled with it for a moment in his haste, and quickly hit the transmit button. “This is Rick Stone, can you hear me, Bob?”

Inside the shack, Bob turned to Luke who was standing on the opposite side of the room. “Hey, Luke! I think I finally got something!”

“What!?!” Luke ran up to the radio and took the mike from Bob. “This is Luke Barter. Who am I talking to?”

“This is Rick Stone from Los Angeles, California.” came a voice over the speaker. “I’ve been hearing Emily’s calls for help as well. It was sheer blind luck that I happened to stumble upon your signal.”

“Well your blind luck has perfect timing.” said Luke. “We just got a hold of another ham radio operator a few hours ago. Between the three of us, we may be able to get a lock on her location.”

“That’s just what I was thinking.” said Rick over the speaker. “Who is this third person you’ve found?”

“His name is Joe Boss.” said Luke. “He lives in Miami, Florida. My friend, Bob Long, got in touch with him. When do you think will be a good time to get a fix on Emily’s position?”

“Well, by the time we get around to getting a fix on her position, she’ll probably done transmitting.” said Rick. “We’ll have to wait until she signals again.”

“Understood.” said Luke. “We’ll talk to you later then.”

Luke placed the mike down and turned to Bob. “Mark that frequency so we can find it again.” he said. “Then see if you can’t get in touch with Joe.”

“You got it.” said Bob, working with the controls. He let out a sigh. “I just hope we find that kid in time.” He turned back to him. “What will you be doing?”

“I’m going to call my sister at home.” said Luke. “We’re going to need someone to stay with the radio while we’re gone.”

“Good call.” said Bob. “Once we get a fix on that girl’s location, we should head out in the speed boat and see what we can to to help.”

“That’s the general idea.” replied Luke. He picked up the telephone receiver and dialed a number. “Megan? This is Luke at the clubhouse, listen carefully, I need a favor...”

Back inside Rick’s bedroom, Rick placed the mike down and turned to Kelly smiling.
“We just may save that girl in time.” he said.

“Who is this girl, Emily?” asked Kelly.

“I’m not really sure.” said Rick, turning back to the controls of his ham radio. “I started hearing her calls for help about a week ago but I couldn’t do anything to help her because I did not have the means to track her signal.”

“Well, why don’t you fill me in on everything Emily had said over the radio, there might be some clues in what she had said.”

Unknown to Rick and Kelly, they were being monitored from a black van two houses down on their street.

“There’s that name again, Emily.” said Jon, listening to the two children through a series of listening devices. “You don’t think they are talking about Emily Wild, do you?”

Hank grunted. “They better not be, for Morgana’s sake.” he said. “She told Grim that she and two others were killed by crocodiles trying to escape about a year ago.”

“And if this Emily is calling for help from the A list?”

“Let’s not jump to conclusions just yet. We will take the boy, as planed, but we will keep an eye on Morgana for a while from a distance before we make our report. If Emily Wild, and the two boys are still alive, Grim will want an explanation.”

“That poor girl!” said Kelly, inside Rick’s bed room. “Is that why you and the other ham radio operators are trying to find her?”

“Yes. You see, with the three of us, we should be able triangulate Emily’s location by comparing the signal strengths."

Kelly seemed confused. “What?”

“We can get a fix on where she is calling for help.”

“But what about the police.” asked Kelly. “Couldn’t they help you?”

Rick shook his head. “I’ve already informed them. I gave them the exact radio frequency from which I’ve been hearing Emily’s cries for help but so far, they’ve come up with the same I have, nothing. Our best chance is to try to get a fix on where she is.”

“Oh.” Kelly looked at the screen and her mouth half opened as if to gasp. “Uh, Rick, did Emily say that she was on the A list?”

“Yes.” said Rick, looking back at her. “Why?”

“Look at the first item on the list we just got from the internet.”

Rick moved away from the ham radio, sat back down next to Kelly at the computer, and looked at the screen. As he did, he could not help but let out a surprised gasp.

“No way!” he said, shaking his head. “It’s got to be a coincidence!”

“It’s at least worth checking out.” said Kelly.

Rick moved the mouse onto the A list web site and clicked the left button. The computer hummed for a short moment, then filled the screen with information about the A list half way house.

“It’s a half way house for orphans in southern Louisiana.” said Rick, reading the information on the screen. “It was originally a luxurious riverboat that had catered to people and couples of every sort, offering them all a few weeks of relaxation on the Mississippi river. But the riverboat was constantly plagued by river pirates who would steal money and even kidnap children right out of the boat!”

Kelly was shocked. “Oh my!”

“There’s more.” said Rick.

“During a raid, one of the passengers took over the wheel and purposely ran the riverboat aground on an island in the bayou outside of normal shipping lines, a few miles north of New Orleans.”

“The island must have been the river pirate’s hide out.” said Kelly. “Do you think they might have been going after everyone that time?”

Rick shrugged. “Beats me.” he said.

He continued to read, “The owner and operator of the touring riverboat, Markus T. Grim, purchased the island and built a dock around the grounded boat, hoping to make some good use of it in the near future. The riverboat, island and much of the surrounding bayou was purchased about ten years ago by Grim’s son, Maximillion Grim, the owner and operator of the Arrowhead adoption association. The old riverboat is now being used to prepare troubled orphans for a new life with a more loving and or stable family.”

“Troubled orphans?” asked Kelly, crossing her arms. “That sounds just a little too fishy to me.”

“I don’t know, Kelly.” said Rick. “The Mississippi can be a very relaxing place.”

“Not if you are a prisoner.”

“It may still be nothing more that a coincidence. But then again...”

After a moment of thought, Rick typed Arrowhead Adoption Association into the internet search box and hit enter.

“What are you up to?” asked Kelly.

“I’m to check out this adoption agency.”

Again the computer hummed for a moment, then displayed the Arrowhead adoption Association’s web site. Upon looking at the information on the screen, Rick began to type onto the keyboard.

Watching him, Kelly shook her head, confused. “Now what are you doing?”

“This web site has a number of guarded pages, you need a password to get anywhere, so I’m running my password program to give us the whole picture.”

Inside the van, Jon turned to Hank, startled. “Do you think they may be on to us?”

“Compose yourself.” said Hank, calmly. “Those kids are far more resourceful than we had originally given them credit for but the websites our company offers do not give any clues that there may be anything suspicious going on.”

The program ran it’s course and, with in a few minutes, the entire web site was open to them. “Piece of cake.” Rick moved along the web page, reading through the information, but he could not find anything out of the ordinary. “So far, everything looks legitimate.” Then, Rick noticed a web page marked success story. “What do we have here?”

He clicked onto the page and a small picture of Amy Moss appeared on the screen with a brief article beneath it.

“I didn’t know Amy was adopted.” said Kelly.

“Nor did I.” admitted Rick. He read the article, his eyes seemingly widening with every word. “It seems as if Amy’s entire family was killed in a tragic car accident about seven years ago. The event shook her so much, it took six weeks at the A list to prepare her for a new life with her adopted family here in Los Angeles. Now, she is the author of twelve school plays and musicals, one of which is being seriously considered by a small number of agents to be run on Broadway.”

“Wow! I knew Amy was a great writer but Broadway? That is intense!”

“You got that right.” said Rick. “But I still don’t see anything out of the ordinary here. I’ll save this little bit of information in case it turns out to be something, but I’m afraid it’s a dead end.” He clicked the mouse onto a button marked down load, then saved the information onto a CD disk and turned back to Kelly. “When Emily signals again, Bob, Joe and I will be able to triangulate her position. Once we have that, we will have a better idea of what is really going on.”
Just then, Kelly’s watch began to beep. She looked at the time and let out a small gasp as she turned the watch alarm off.

“Uh Oh! I’ve got to go! My mom is taking me and a bunch of my friends out to an amusement park later this afternoon. Do you want to come along?”

“No thanks.” said Rick, adding the web sites to his favorites folder. “I need to integrate all of these web sites into the program.”

“We’ve got all of the web sites.” said Kelly. “Can’t you just add them to the child search program tomorrow?”

Rick again shook his head. “Finding the web sites is only the beginning, Kelly. I’ve got to tell the computer exactly where to look in these web sites to find the picture, name and address files of the children it’s designed to find. Integrating them into the program will take hours and I want to get it done by the end of the night.”

Kelly was disappointed. But she managed to hide it with a pleasant smile. “Well, maybe next time, okay?”

Rick nodded. “Maybe next time.” he said.

Kelly walked out of the room, nearly bumping into Rick’s mother, a tall and slender young woman with long, flowing auburn hair.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Mrs. Stone.”

“That’s alright, Kelly.” said Rick’s mom. “I’m just bringing in Rick’s mail. But please, call me Sarah, okay?”

“What did I get, mom?” asked Rick, turning away from the computer.

“It’s another one of those missing persons flyers.” She turned to Kelly and winked at her. “After today, you guys will probably get a lot more of these.”

Kelly smiled and rushed out of the room, down the hall, to the front door. Outside, she took notice of the black van parked two houses down the road. Wasn’t that van outside the school earlier today? She shivered, looking at it but the sound of her mother’s car horn snapped her out of it and she quickly stepped into the car which drove off after she closed the door behind her.

Inside the house, Sarah waited until Kelly left before she turned to her son.
“She’s kind of cute, Rick.” she said with a wink. “You should ask her out sometime.”

“Mom!”

Rick’s mom let out a small laugh. “You may be a child genius and a black belt in many forms of martial arts, but you are still a child.” she said. “You need to get out and have some fun between all of your competitions and projects, while you still can.”

She lightly kissed him on the forehead and added, “I will be at the store for a few minutes. You know where all the emergency numbers are.”

Rick gave his mom a funny look. “I also know karate, kung fu, tae kwan doe...”

“Yes, yes.” interrupted his mother. “But you know I prefer you leave the butt kicking to the police.” She then again kissed him on the forehead and gave him the flyer. “I’ll be off as soon as I gather my things. You be good now.”

With that, she left the room.

After she was gone, Rick let out a short laugh, shaking his head. “Butt kicking. You’re too much, mom.”

He looked at the flyer and his heart skipped a beat as he found the picture looked exactly like Amy Moss, only the name under it was Anna Eve.

“No way!” he thought, astounded. “How many coincidences can you get in one day!?! I had better run it through the program, just in case.”

Rick placed the flyer into his scanner and ran the child search program. As the child find program ran it’s course, Rick heard the front door open, then close as his mother left the house. Momentarily, the computer found a match and Rick was not able to believe his eyes.

“Amy Moss is really Anna Eve? But why....?”

Before he could ponder over it for too long, the ham radio again came to life with Emily’s desperate pleas for help. Momentarily forgetting his shock, Rick hurried over to the controls of the ham radio and began to work with the dials, searching for the direction Emily’s signal was coming in the strongest. Once he had found it, he moved quickly turned the dial to where he had stumbled upon Bob’s signal and hit the transmit button.

“This is Rick to Bob.” he said. “Emily’s signal is coming in the strongest South by south east from my location. Where is it coming the strongest for you?”

For a moment, there was no response. But then, Bob’s voice finally echoed through the speaker. “Joe called us no more than a minute ago, Emily’s signal is coming in the strongest North by north east of his location and for us, it’s the strongest from the south west. My friend, Luke is scrounging for some maps to check it out.”

“I can check it out right now, Bob. ” said Rick. “Hold on a minute.”

He quickly placed the mike down and turned to a small cabinet next to desk the ham radio was resting on. He ran his finger down the long, thin drawers, searching for the right one, then pulled the drawer open, revealing a laid out map of the United States.

“Now then.” he thought. “Let’s see exactly where you are calling from, Emily.”

Rick grabbed a ruler and pencil from the top of the cabinet and lightly traced a line from the three locations to the direction form where the signals were the strongest. The three lines crossed somewhere deep inside the heart of the Louisiana bayou. Looking at it, he could not help but shake his head, baffled.

“The Louisiana bayou? But that’s nuts! There’s nothing out there except....”

Rick gasped, the pencil falling from his trembling hand as a heavy wave of realization fell over him.

“The A list! Kelly’s intuition was right on target! There is something wrong going on out there! But what...!?!”

Then, he turned to the computer and saw the two pictures of Amy Moss with the words match found flashing upon the flat screen monitor. The pieces quickly fitted together inside his mind and a wave of panic immediately fell over him as he declared, almost in a whisper, “An adoption ring!”

Now fully realizing what he had stumbled upon, Rick quickly turned back to the ham radio to warn Bob of his discovery. But, as he picked up the mike, he spotted something from under it’s base, reflecting off of the surface of the oak desk. Shaking with fear, Rick slowly turned the radio mike upside down and found a tiny listening devise wedged into the small hole where the wires entered. His heart, already beating rapidly, seemed to have suddenly jumped clear into his throat. Someone was spying on him. This lead Rick to one, terrifying conclusion. He was next. It was then that he heard the glass of his front door break with a soft crash.“Oh, no!”

Now fearing for his life, Rick quickly closed and locked the door to his room then hurried over to his computer and feverishly worked the keyboard.

“I’ve got to leave the guys some clues so they can find me!” he thought. “Otherwise, I might never be seen again!”

Rick saved the match found information that was on his screen to the same CD disk he had saved the information about the A list, praying he had enough time to do what he had in mind. “Come on, come on!” he whispered hoarsely to his computer. “Hurry up!”

Finally, the computer finished saving the information to the CD and he ejected the disk, just as he heard footsteps approaching his bedroom door. Panicked, he then raced over the the small cabinet next to his ham radio, tore the map he had drawn on out if its place, and hastily folded it up before closing the drawer shut. Rick jumped as the sound of someone testing his bed room door reached his ears, he was out of time. Near the brink of tears, he quickly stuffed the two items into a CD case, forced it shut, then tossed it onto the floor of his open closet. There was a number of clothes neatly folded on the foot of his bed, Rick quickly grabbed them and threw them onto the CD case, hiding it from view, just as the door to his bed room was kicked open.

Rick turned, ready, to face two tall, blurry men dressed in business suits. The tallest of the two looked at him oddly then gave him a slight grin.

“Now why do you suppose I get the feeling you have been expecting us?” he asked.

“One normally does not break the front door window when they knock.” replied Rick, scowling at the two men. “I must warn you, I am well trained in the arts of self defense.”

“Oh, rest assured, Mr. Stone.” said Jon, the shortest of the two. “We know all about you and your many talents. Which is why our company sent nothing less than their best men to offer you an invitation to a new life.” He smiled. “One you can not refuse.”

“Come along now, Rick.” said Hank, producing a small syringe from under his jacket. “We have a room reserved for you on the A list. I really don’t want to keep the staff waiting too long.”

“Dream on!”

In one swift move, Rick kicked the syringe out of Hank’s hand, sending it across the room. Unfortunately, the glass did not break as Rick had hoped. It merely bounced off of one wall, before striking the ham radio controls, again slightly turning the dial. Hank watched the syringe fall to the floor behind Rick and merely smiled at him, which made him even more nervous.

“I was hoping to save you any undue suffering by simply putting you under with a mild sedative.” he said. “But since you are unwilling to cooperate, we are going to have to take you with us the hard way.”

“I don’t take so easily.” said Rick.

“Let’s just see about that, shall we?”

Rick stood his ground as Hank then slowly approached him. He knew he had a real fight on his hands. Only this time, he was not fighting for points, he was fighting for his life.

Later that night, Amy again tossed and turned under the sheets of her bed while disturbing images played out within her mind. She found herself at the same age of five, only she was on board a rickety old riverboat, lying on a small cot with her right ankle shackled to the floor by a three or four foot chain. She pulled on the chain, but it would not come loose. Frightened, crying, she called for help only to bring the attention of a tall, skinny man in black pants and shirt with a long, white lab coat covering it all.

The man had jet black hair and cold, calculating eyes, which focused upon her behind a pair of gold rimmed glasses. He slowly walked up to her, ignoring her pleas for help, then viciously struck her across the face, leaving a dark bruise.

“Snap out of it!” he barked. “Your nightmares and constant sleep walking have made it necessary for us to anchor you to the floor.”

“Why are you doing this!?!” asked Amy, in her dream. “I didn’t do anything!"

The man shook his head. “You don’t remember?” he asked. He chuckled slightly. “I am not surprised. The mind has the tenancy to block out hurtful memories.”

“What do you mean?” asked Amy, frightened.

“First, let me introduce myself.” said the man, with a smile. “I am Doctor Jerk and you will be in my care for some time.”

Now, Amy was even more frightened. “Your- Your care?”

The man smiled. “Yes, child. You see, you and both of your parents were involved in a tragic car accident a few weeks ago. You were the only survivor and I am afraid that you have no other living relatives. You are an orphan, my dear.”

Tears ran down Amy’s face as she slept under the covers of her bed as her younger self in her dream cried. “You’re a liar!” she wailed, both in her dream and out loud. “I don’t believe you!”

Doctor Jerk merely smiled. “Your strong state of denial is natural, especially at your age.” he said. “But you must eventually move on. That is why you are here. I am going to help you make the transition from your old life to a new one with a caring family who will love you just as much your real parents did in life.”

The scene then changed and she saw herself tied to a chair, being forced to watch the video of a car crash over and over again with Doctor Jerk watching over her.
“The accident was caught on film by a New York city police force helicopter.” he said. “They were casing after a suspect, who was running from them in a semi truck.”
Jerk paused, allowing his words to sink in while young Amy sat in the chair, unable to leave or to even turn away.

“The semi ran a light and struck your family’s small car in the side at speeds exceeding ninety miles an hour, killing both of your parents on impact. You alone were spared.”

The scene then changed again and Amy saw her younger self running away from the old river boat with tears in her eyes as two, blurry men chased after her. She tripped over a branch sticking out of the swampy water and she fell into the muck. Young Amy quickly pulled herself back up onto her feet, just as she was grabbed from behind. She screamed and spun around to see the words, SS A list on the side of the old river boat, just as one of the blurry men struck her in the face with his hard fist.

Inside the other room, Amy’s mother, Becky, tossed and turned in a bed of her own as similar, disturbing images played out within her mind. She witnessed herself at the age of five, perhaps slightly older, struggling with an attacker she could not see because of a heavy sack that had been thrown over her head from behind. The shadowy figure, with the aid of another, tied her hands and feet with strong rope as the heavy sack muffled her terrified screams. Not far in the distance, she could hear the muffled, fear filled screams of her older sister which only fueled her terror.

Through her struggling, Becky felt herself being lifted and carried somewhere. Fearing the worst, she struggled more intensely, still hearing her sister’s screams echoing over her own, which made her believe they were both being taken to the same unknown destination. In desperation, Kelly began to whip her head around, for it was the only part of her body free to be used as a weapon against her attackers. In two or three swings, she managed to shake the heavy sack over her head and take a quick look around. The first thing she saw was her sister with her hands and feet tied and a heavy sack over her head. She was being carried by two blurry men in street clothes. Becky called out to her but, before any response could come, someone struck her on the back of the neck, throwing her into darkness.

Becky woke with a start, sweat beading upon her forehead as she fought the urge to scream aloud. For a moment, Becky looked about, anxious, then she let out a low, weary sigh, relieved that it was only a dream.

“I haven’t had a nightmare that bad since I was a little girl.” she thought, still shaken by the images. “I wonder how Amy deals with it.”

Still shaken, Becky turned to her husband only to find him still fast asleep. “That figures.”

She then turned to a small black and white picture resting on her nightstand. It was an image for her and her older sister standing on the deck of a luxurious riverboat, both anxiously waiting for an exciting trip down the Mississippi. Little did they know then that two days later, they would be separated by violence. Under the railing where she and her sister were standing was the name of the riverboat, the SS A List. As she drifted back to sleep, she could not help but wonder. “I wish I knew where you were now, sis.” she thought.

Miles away, in the front passenger seat of an RV camper, a tall, slender woman woke with a start from a nightmare she was having and jumped again as a strong hand gently touched her shoulder.

“Another nightmare, Nancy.” asked her husband, Paul.

Nancy turned to him, anxious, then let out a sigh of relief and nodded. “You’ve been having a lot of them lately.” said Paul. “Are you sure you are up to this?”

“I have got to know for sure if that girl I saw on the television is really my daughter.” said Nancy, still shaken from her dream. “I lost my sister when I was a kid, I won’t lose my daughter too.”

“Well, we’re just now reaching Los Angeles. The first thing we do is to find a local police station, okay?”

Again, Nancy nodded then turned to look out the window. “I wish I knew where you were now, sis.” she thought.

Inside her dark bedroom, Amy woke with a start as a small scream escaped her lips. For a moment, she forgot were she was and quickly threw her hand over her mouth to silence herself then anxiously watched her bedroom door, praying that no one had heard her scream. In the seconds that followed, Amy just sat there, with tears running down her sensitive face, tightly holding one hand over her mouth, listening for any movement out side her door. When she finally realized where she was, she breathed a long, low sigh of relief, slowly pulling her hand away from her face. Still, she could not help but lift the covers of her bed to be certain her ankle was not shackled. Relieved, but still very shaken, Amy raised her hand and lightly touched her right cheek as if it ached. She was beginning to wonder weather or not her nightmares were really dreams at all. “The A list.”

Then, the telephone rang, causing Amy to jump in fright. She looked at her clock, resting next to the telephone on her nightstand, it was seven in the morning. With her hands still trembling, she reached over to the night stand and picked up the phone receiver on the third ring.

“He- Hello?”

“Amy?” came Kelly’s voice on the other end of the line. “We need you to come over to Rick’s house as soon as you are able.”

“Why?” asked Amy, still shaken by her nightmare. “Has something happened?”

“It- It’s Rick, Amy.” said Kelly, her voice beginning to quiver. “He’s been kidnapped. The police think that it may be related to the program we had developed.”

It took Amy a moment to respond. She felt her heart race and eventually slow as visions from her nightmare flashed and slowly faded behind her eyes.

“Amy?” asked Kelly’s voice, fearful on the other line. “Are you there?”

“I-I’m here.” replied Amy, her voice nearly gone with fear. “I’ll head up there as soon as I get dressed and leave a note for my mom.”

“Be careful, Amy.” said Kelly. “I have a really bad feeling about all of this.”
“I- I’ll be careful.” promised Amy.”

Suddenly, the sound of breaking glass reached Amy’s ear from the other end of the line, followed by Kelly screaming, which caused Amy’s heart to jump into her throat.

“Kelly?” she asked, frightened. “Kelly, are you there!?! Kelly!?!”

No answer came and Amy’s fear grew. “Kelly!, Kelly!!”