"MC!" a voice screamed out, breaking the silence of darkness. "Wake up!"

I was confused by the sound. Why was someone calling to me? Couldn't they see I was sleeping? Leave me alone! Let me sleep!

"MC! Wake up goddamnit!" the voice shouted.

My body was shook vigorously. I opened my eyes to look at my attacker, but I was greeted with a searing headache. No matter how much I tried to focus, everything was blurry.

"Verdammt, Bloomgate!" the voice then yelled a command in German. Another voice in the distance responded in German. Why were these voices so familiar to me?

"Piece of cake for these guns! MC, I'm going to lift you over my shoulder ok? Please don't panic," the first voice pleaded.

Suddenly I was lifted up and draped over something hard. Confused, I wiggled around to try to get a look at my abductor.

"MC, its ok! It's me! It's Dan!" He tried to hold me tightly to prevent me from slipping out of his hold.

"Dan?" I muttered.

"Yes! Can you walk on your own?" he asked.

"I think so," I mumbled.

Dan slowly lowered me down to my feet. I lost my balance a little, but Dan held my shoulders so I could recover.

"What are you doing here?" I frowned. "Why are you trying to kidnap me?"

"You called me last night, remember?" Dan pointed out.

"No... no I didn't," I looked away trying to recall anything of the last night.

"Yeah, you did, and I heard you. I heard you and I heard him!" Dan explained. "I'm sorry it took so long for this old man to locate your phone."

"Who are you calling old?" Alan popped his head back into the room. "MC, are you ok?"

"Of course she's not ok! Look at her! She's been drugged!" Dan snapped. "God knows what else he did to her. I'm going to fucking kill him!"

"MC, Dan and I are going to take you to the hospital to get checked out, ok? I've called my friend at Colville PD and he's sending teams out to pick up Jake when he returns. If you know where he has gone this morning, then we can ambush him. Even if he escapes the ambush, it'll force him to retreat here and the second team can pick him up," Alan detailed.

"I don't know where he's gone," I responded groggily. "Maybe to see his old friend?"

"Oh my God, what did he give you?" Dan frowned.

"Give me?" I asked confused, then looked down at my bandages. "Just pain medication for my burns."

"What the fuck!?" Dan hollered. "Did he do this to you too!?"

"No, he didn't hurt me," I objected. "Jake loves me and I love him. I don't know why you're here, but this is unnecessary."

Dan and Alan exchanged glances, then turned their attention back to me.

"MC, I know what I heard! I heard him assaulting you on the phone! Don't lie to me!" Dan hissed. "Not with those bruises."

"MC, can you please come with us to the hospital so we can get those wounds properly checked by a medical professional?" Alan pushed.

"Fine, but leave Jake out of it," I reluctantly agreed.

"No can do!" Dan shook his head arrogantly. "I am going to kill him."

"Let's discuss this further once we've had you checked out," Alan conceded.

"Can you give me a moment to get dressed at least?" I suddenly felt very exposed in my shirt and panties.

Dan was about to object, but Alan grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the office. As soon as the door closed I shut my eyes and tried to recall anything about the past 24 hours. So much of it was foggy, but small things started to come back. I remembered eating dinner with Jake and watching him pour the liquor, but I couldn't recall drinking it. Drawing nothing but blanks, I gave up and started to dress. As soon as I went to pull up my pants I saw my knees and how they were scraped. I couldn't for the life of me remember how I injured them and it bothered me. Why couldn't I remember? Maybe I did call Dan.

I grabbed my phone and unlocked it. I found it was on my contact list at the letter 'D'. There were only four contacts listed under D:

Dad

Daniel Anderson

Dr. Cumming

Dr. Rutherford

Then I remembered. I was trying to call Dr. Cumming, not Dan. Why was I so desperate to call him? Why was I so afraid? I tapped the screen in such a rush that my phone slipped out of my hand before I could see if I had successfully dialled. Then I remembered Jake grabbing me by the roots of my hair and pulling me away. Why did that memory terrify me so much? I got goosebumps just thinking about it. No, it was worse than that. I felt so sick I wanted to vomit. What happened after that!?

Hurriedly I went back to redressing and left the room to rejoin the others. "No cops. They'll kill him."

"I'll kill him," Dan clarified.

"Dan!" Alan shot him a glare.

"No, he's sick and he needs help. No cops," I reiterated.

"If you know how we can bring him in peacefully, then I'll all ears," Alan offered.

"You may not like it though. It would be putting him into a facility under a pseudonym," I shrugged.

"So? As long as he stays in the loony bin, I don't care what name he goes by!" Dan mused.

"We wouldn't be able to connect him to any crimes that would identify him," Alan sighed.

"So he'd get out again?" Dan questioned.

"MC, I am not against the mental health system, but he needs to face the charges. We can bring in whatever experts needed for an insanity plea," Alan pressured.

"No! There are people really chasing us looking to kill him!" I exclaimed. "And while I trust you Alan, I don't trust the other cops in this country. They have been just tools for our enemies. Any sort of detention would be a death warrant. He cannot be processed by the police. At all."

Alan rubbed his head in obvious disagreement, "Let's say I even believe this wild conspiracy that you two claim exists. You're asking me to go against everything I stand for and jeopardise my career for this man."

"With your help, I can get him to surrender peacefully," I assured Alan.

"What if I don't want it to be peaceful?" Dan asked.

Alan rolled his eyes, "Dan, there is still a question of Richy's wellbeing."

"I told you, I'm only here for MC," Dan folded his arms. "That sack of fleas can rot in hell."

"Richy?" I asked confused.

Suddenly I had a flash and remembered seeing Richy screaming out in pain.

"He has Richy," I muttered.

"He's alive? Where?" Alan frowned.

"Um, a nearby abandoned warehouse," I recalled.

"Can you be more specific?" Dan mocked. "That's really not narrowing it down."

"I can take you to the exact one," I rolled my eyes. "Just, let me call the person I actually intended to call yesterday."

"And who is that?" Alan asked out of interest.

"Dr. Cumming. Jake's psychiatrist," I said matter of a factly.

"Oh because he's been doing a bang up job so far!" Dan exclaimed.

"He urged me to admit Jake a few days ago and...," I paused with a reluctant sigh. "And I stupidly ignored his recommendation at the time. He will help us get Jake into a facility under a false name."

"MC, this isn't your fault," Alan assured me.

I shook my head, "No, it is. I was too blind and too overly ambitious in my ability to handle Jake."

"Ok, while we still have the upper hand, make the phone call, MC," Alan gestured to me.

"And when this all goes terribly wrong, which it will," Dan frowned at Alan while I pulled out my phone and unlocked it again. "You will have back up at the ready, right?"

"I'll tell my friend at Colville PD that we're following up on an anonymous tip about Richy's whereabouts to see if it holds any weight," Alan responded stand-offish. "But I will leave any reference to Jake and MC out of it."

"Oh, this shit is going to hit the fan," Dan nodded in acceptance as the phone rung in my ear.

Dr. Cumming's secretary picked up and greeted me in German. "Dr. Cumming, please, it's urgent. Tell him it is about his patient, Karl Vogel."

Not even a minute later, Dr. Cumming came to the line, "Are you ok!?"

"Yes, I'm ok," I reassured him. "Dr. Cumming, it's time to take you up on that offer. How soon can you come to the docks?"