Rachel's phone rang as she and Al sat with the kids in the living room, feeling strange that both owners of the house weren't there. She checked it expecting that it might be Lauren calling with an update, but when she saw the screen, she saw the name "Anya." That was the phone answered by McTeague the last time Rachel had called "Anya" looking for Logan, and the number she'd given Detective Pak.

She stood and hurried out of the living room, racing up the stairs before she answered. "Hello?"

"Hello, Foster Mom." It was McTeague again. Rachel recognized her voice from the last time they'd talked.

"Is Logan okay?" she asked.

"Oh, Logan's just fine," McTeague said, a bit too brightly to be believable. "In fact, I think he had a very nice night. The girls had a little fun with him, and he'll have a smile on his face when he dies, unless you get me what I want."

Rachel's mouth was dry, and she fought to make a little saliva so she could talk. "The police are working on it. I gave the detective your phone number so he can contact you directly. I think they'll want to set up an exchange soon."

"Well, well. And here I thought I'd have to send you his finger to get you going."

"No, of course not!" Rachel blurted, shocked by how glibly the woman had mentioned cutting off the finger of a sixteen-year-old boy. Like Pak had said, they didn't even think about the moral implications of what they did. "I told you I'd do what you said. I want Logan back safe and sound."

"Still, I'm going to need to hear from this detective of yours soon, and I mean today, or at midnight I'll call you back and let you listen to him scream."

"No!" Rachel cried. "I'll tell him to call you. He wants to give you the money, okay? Just, please, don't hurt Logan, he hasn't done anything to you, he's just a boy."

"I'm sorry, Foster Mom, but I have to disagree with you there. He's his father's son, after all, and his father was a fucking idiot, taking the photos to our rivals, bringing his own son with him to a massacre, and the son didn't have the good sense to die in said massacre. We had to take Logan, if you want to know the truth, for his own safety as well as ours."

"I don't believe you. Having him with you makes you less safe. Your rivals are looking for him."

"Is that what your detective friend told you?"

"They have the pictures, don't they? They know what your boat looks like."

"Oh, goodness, you've been a sneaky sneak, haven't you. Couldn't resist looking at the pictures yourself?"

"We just wanted to see what was on them. We have no idea who the people are or what most of that stuff means. Anyway, it doesn't matter that we saw them. What matters is the police have them now, and they're still willing to negotiate with you to secure Logan's release."

"I'm sure they're looking for us right now, but that's okay, they won't find us. Nothing in those pictures will give them a clue to where we are."

"I heard they arrested some of your crew. They'll get information from them."

Katherine McTeague laughed in what seemed like genuine mirth. Rachel stood listening to her on the other end of the line, waiting for her to stop. It took longer than she would have thought.

"Oh, dearie, I'm afraid you've been watching too much TV," she said. "The detective calls us before midnight. Make it happen."

"Wait!" Rachel said, sensing she was going to hang up. "Can I talk to him? I need to know he's okay."

"What, you don't believe me?"

"Frankly, no. Please, just let me hear his voice."

She was silent for a moment. Then she said, "Hold on."

As she waited, Rachel listened for any background noise on the other end of the line that could indicate where they were. There was nothing. No other voices. No engine noise. If she hadn't heard the open line, she might have thought they'd been disconnected.

"Rachel?" Logan's voice, suddenly there.

Rachel thought she might faint, her heart was beating so fast. "Oh! Logan! Oh, baby, are you okay?"

He didn't even balk at her endearment. He must have been scared. "Yeah. For now. They have guns, though. They want money. There's an account--"

"I know, Logan. The paper in your pack of cigarettes."

"You do know."

"We're working with the police to get that money to her. We'll come for you as soon as we can, okay? We're coming."

"Rachel?"

"Yes?"

"The girls. They were bait."

"I know, honey. It's okay. We were all fooled."

"But they're nice girls, though. They're scared too."

"I know, sweetie. The detective told me they might be here against their will."

"They... Auntie Kathy made them... um... do things with me. They filmed it. I didn't feel right about it."

Rachel's heart sank. "Oh. I'm sorry, Logan. Don't be too hard on yourself, okay? You didn't have a choice in the matter, either. Look, we're going to do something for those girls if we can, too, do you hear me? They're prisoners as much as you are."

Suddenly McTeague's voice was there again. "That's enough. You need time to call the police now. Logan will be just fine as long as you do what we want."

"Okay," she said weakly, and suddenly the line went dead. McTeague had hung up.

She scrolled through her contacts to find Detective Pak's number, but just as she was about to call, her phone rang again. It was Lauren.

She huffed in frustration, feeling the seconds ticking away, and answered. "Lauren?"

"Hey girl!" she said, too brightly for her liking, as if she were calling from a bar instead of a stakeout. "Guess what we're looking at right now?"

"What?" Rachel asked in irritation, because now Al had come up the stairs and was looking at her inquiringly, and she couldn't handle two conversations at once, verbal or non-verbal.

"Lookeeloo!" Lauren said.

"Holy shit!" Rachel couldn't help exclaiming. She hadn't expected them to find it, and the revelation made her heart speed up.

"I know!" Lauren said.

"Hold on, Lauren, I have to tell Al, he's right here." Rachel put a hand over the lower part of her phone and said to him, "They found the boat."

"Wow!" he said.

"Al, call Detective Pak again. I was talking to McTeague just before Lauren called. She wants to hear from him today. Can you tell him that?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Of course."

He drew out his phone and strolled further down the hall for privacy. Rachel took her hand off her phone and said, "Okay, I'm back. What the fuck, Lauren? Is Joanie with you? How did you find it?"

"It was right here! Docked at the False Creek Harbour Authority. Joanie and I looked up the locations of where fishing trawlers can dock, so we started with the ones in Vancouver, and there it was. The thing is, we looked at the views around it, and they didn't match up with the pictures. I think wherever they were loading and unloading the drugs, it wasn't here."

"No, it couldn't be. That place is much too public. That's around Granville Island, isn't it?"

"Yeah. You know, now that I think about it, we gave the cops that memory card a couple of months ago. You'd think they'd have gotten a warrant to seize the boat, or search it, or whatever."

"Maybe that's why it's there. Easily accessible by the police, since the VPD headquarters is just there under the Cambie Street Bridge. Do you see anyone inside the boat?"

"No," Lauren said, sounding disappointed. "It does look pretty lifeless. I don't know why I thought they'd be on board when it would be the target for both the police and their rivals."

"I was just on the phone with McTeague earlier--"

"You were? Is Logan okay?"

"Yes, and I actually got to talk to him."

"Oh, thank goodness."

"But McTeague said nothing in those pictures would give the police any clues to their whereabouts now. She wants to speak to the police before midnight, or... you know."

"Jesus," Lauren breathed.

"Logan mentioned the girls are still with him. If they're trafficked, I don't think I'd be able to live with myself if we were to secure Logan's safe return and not do anything for them."

"Then we're going to free them all and take down the bad guys," Lauren said with such determination that Rachel felt a warmth in her chest even though she had no idea how her friend could be so confident.

"So, if they're not on Lookeeloo, where are they?" Rachel asked.

"I bet they're on whatever boat took Logan away."

"If they're on a boat at all. We never proved he was lured onto a boat."

"I talked to Joanie about it, and she agrees with my theory."

Distantly, Rachel heard Joanie shout, "No I don't!" She chuckled.

"Are you two able to get on Lookeeloo and look around?" she asked. "Maybe there's a clue on or in the boat that will point you in the right direction."

"I don't know. It's the middle of the day, and there are people around. We'd be trespassing."

"We're not going on the boat," Joanie said in the distance.

"Tell Joanie she's a killjoy," Rachel said jokingly.

Distantly, she heard Lauren say, "Rachel says you're a killjoy." Then, back to Rachel, she said, "I think I want to sit on the boat for a while, see what happens or who shows up."

"Is Joanie okay staying with you?"

"Oh, yeah, we already discussed it."

"Hey, if you're in Granville Island, can you pick up doughtnuts from Lee's? They have the best doughnuts."

"Maybe I'll go get them. I'd feel uncomfortable telling a cop to go buy doughnuts for me. I don't want to feed into the stereotype. Ow!" Rachel had the feeling Joanie had playfully hit Lauren for that remark. "I better go before she beats me up. I'll call if I have an update."

"Okay. I'll let Joe know where you are when he gets back. He went to Johnny's."

"Already?"

"Yeah, well, I don't think he wants to be in the same house as Al right now."

Lauren sighed. "I get it. Shit."

"Have you and Joanie talked about things?"

"Yeah, a bit. It's surprisingly uncomfortable talking to your husband's lover about your marriage."

"Well, keep talking. It'll occupy you while you're watching the boat."

"Yeah, yeah. Talk to you later."

She hung up.

Rachel put her phone back in her pocket as Al walked back up to her. "Lauren and Joanie are going to watch the boat as long as they can in case someone pops up," she said. "How's Pak doing?"

"Working on it. I told him what you told me."

"Did you happen to ask him about the boat?"

"I did. He said he couldn't reveal details about an active investigation, but I detected from his tone that the boat was old news. I don't think it's in play right now."

"No, you're probably right. Lauren couldn't see anyone on board. Did Pak indicate if they had a lead on where these people might be?"

"No. I think they're keeping this close to the chest, since it's an urgent situation."

Rachel sighed in frustration and began pacing. "I've never felt as helpless as I do now. Logan is in danger, those girls he's with are there against their will, and we can't do anything for them."

"I know. I feel like we shirked our responsibility to Logan by letting him go off, but how were we supposed to know? Whoever thought to use those girls as bait had the right idea, didn't they. They knew the mind of a teenage boy, and they knew we wouldn't suspect the girls of being anything but what they were."

"That doesn't make me feel better."

Al nodded and opened his arms to her. She fell into them and began sobbing. He always knew when she needed him, and his arms felt so good around her that she couldn't help letting go.

Joe returned by dinner. When Rachel told him where Lauren was, he deflated a little. "Is Joanie still with her?" he asked.

"As far as I know," she said. "I asked her to bring home doughnuts from Lee's. They seemed to be getting along, if that makes you feel better."

"How long does she think they should stay there?" Joe asked, exasperated. "What if nobody shows up?"

Rachel shrugged. "I don't know, but I guess she'll want to come home by bedtime, if she's going back to work tomorrow."

"It's hard to think of work right now, if Logan's still out there."

"I know. I don't think I can go in tomorrow."

"Me neither," Al said.

Joe looked at Al for a moment, and Rachel could tell Al fought to hold his stare. Joe turned back to Rachel and asked, "Do you think she'll pick up if I call her?"

Rachel shrugged. "I don't know, but I think you should try. I think you have to keep trying, in general."

He nodded as if what she'd said made sense. "And Lauren? Is she absolved from trying?"

"No. Of course not."

"Why don't you call her while we make dinner?" Al offered. It was kind of Al, but Rachel wished he wouldn't talk. Joe was just holding back from punching him, and every word Al said pushed him closer to the edge.

"No, don't make dinner," Joe said, to her surprise. "I don't feel like cleaning up after. Order something in. I'll pay."

He walked upstairs before she could even ask him what he wanted. Maybe he didn't care. Maybe he didn't have an appetite. Rachel could understand.

A quick poll of the kids determined that pizza was the preferred takeout. It came while Joe was still on the phone, and Al ended up paying for it. Rachel considered calling Joe to dinner, but if he was on the phone with Lauren this long then that had to be a good sign, right? Better not to kill the momentum.

She'd just gotten her salami craving satisfied before her phone rang. It was Sunny calling for news. Rachel relayed everything they had so far.

"How are you holding up over there?" he asked.

"Oh, you know, doing the best we can in a challenging time."

"Is it tight at their place?"

"It isn't bad. Al and I have a whole floor to ourselves."

"And Joe and Lauren? Are they on the same floor?"

"Um..."

"It's okay, you don't have to answer that."

"I suppose you noticed the tension between them."

"The whole hotel noticed it. Heads were turning whenever they passed by, pulled by the gravity they generated."

"Okay, yeah, they're going through a rough patch, but they'll come out the other side eventually."

"Was it Joanie that caused the tension?"

She closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose to distract her from the dread boiling in her belly. She had to tread carefully. "One of the things," she said. "I really shouldn't say."

"I just thought if anyone knew it would be you, because you and Lauren are so close. That's also the reason why we didn't offer our place to stay, because we knew you'd prefer to stay with them."

"Oh, Sunny, no, they just offered first."

"We're also further away from your work."

"Hey, a place is a place, and we would have been happy to take you up on an offer if you made it."

"Well, anyway, we're a little tight ourselves with my mom and dad."

Sunny seemed distracted, and Rachel sensed there was something he wasn't telling her, and she thought she knew what it might be. "Sunny?"

"Yes?"

"I don't want you to feel like you're being left out. You're as good a friend to Al and me as the others are."

"I don't, not really," he said, but Rachel could hear the yearning in his voice, like he was the kid picked last to play baseball. "You and Lauren are really making an effort with Tej, and I appreciate that."

Rachel suppressed a smile. He might not appreciate it so much if he knew what his wife had gotten up to with them. "You should go out more with Joe and Al, like that time you took the boys to Playland."

He cleared his throat and said. "Funny, I thought I would enjoy that day more, but I couldn't help noticing tension between Al and Joe. They didn't say anything to each other, and by the end of the day I was exhausted trying to engage them both, it was like herding cats. I doubt they'd want to go on more excursions like that."

The man was sharp, she had to hand it to him. "I suppose it was always the five of us when we were kids, and maybe we want that same dynamic we had back then, so we need to be five to have it now."

He considered her words for a moment before saying, "Well, I don't know if it always needs to be the five of us, but one of you or Lauren seems to go a long way to making things cheerier."

"Thank you," she said, feeling warm inside.

"Although... funny enough... when you and Joe were missing, I was on the side of the highway with Al and Lauren, looking for Joe's phone, and one of us, I can't remember who it was, said something like, it didn't feel right because you weren't there. You were the unspoken leader of the LSDC, and I think we still kind of feel that way."

"Sunny, stop, you're making my head swell." She was touched, though, more than she could admit.

"But even leaders need help sometimes. Don't forget that. We're here for you."

"Thanks, Sunny." 

Before she could hang up, she heard Joe pounding down the stairs. She turned, saw him flushed with excitement, and said, "Hey, Joe, I'm on the phone with Sunny, what's up?"

"Lauren and Joanie are on the move," he said.

"What?!"

"What's going on?" Sunny asked.

"Hold on, let me put you on speaker. Get Tej on the line, we'll all palaver." She switched to the speakerphone and called for Al. He came running, and the three of them stood around the phone in Rachel's hand, Sunny and Tej on the other end.

"Hey, everyone," Tej said. "This is exciting. What's going on?"

"Go ahead, Joe," she said.

Joe cleared his throat and said, "Lauren and Joanie spotted a man going aboard Lookeeloo."

"Holy shit!" Rachel said. "Lauren's gamble paid off."

"Wait, Lauren and Joanie found the boat?" Tej asked in amazement.

"Yes, sorry honey, I didn't have time to tell you," Sunny said.

"So, what happened after that?" Al asked.

"The guy was on the boat for a while, then he darted for a car, and that's when Lauren and Joanie tailed him. There might have been another person in the car, but Lauren couldn't make them out from where they were. Before Lauren hung up with me, she said they were on the road, following the car east on Second Avenue."

"Damn it, I wish I was there!" Rachel said.

"Are they being safe, staying back so as not to alert them?" Al asked.

"Lauren's a pro, you know that," Joe said. Rachel couldn't help noticing Joe forgetting his grudge against Al as soon as LSDC business was discussed.

"Shouldn't they be informing the police about this development?" Sunny asked. "Joanie's police, after all."

"While Lauren was on the phone with me, Joanie was on the phone with her detachment, which was patching through to the Burnaby detachment via radio."

"Is Lauren driving? She better have a hands free device with a cop in the car."

"Don't worry, she does," Joe said, rolling his eyes.

"Guys, this car could be leading Lauren and Joanie to where they're keeping Logan, have you thought of that?" Rachel asked.

"I didn't think anything would come of this, that's why I was okay with them going," Joe said. "Now that there's an element of danger, I want to be there too."

"Me too," Rachel said.

"Guys, if Joanie's patched in with the authorities, it's best to let them do their jobs," Sunny said. "I know you want to help, but if there's a big operation about to happen, you might just get in the way instead."

"I agree," Al said. "Besides, Joanie should be able to keep Lauren out of trouble."

"She didn't manage to do it while we were on vacation," Joe said pointedly.

"She might have if you didn't command all her attention," Al retorted.

Everyone was quiet. Rachel saw Joe's look and thought about throwing herself in front of Al.

"Guys," Sunny ventured. "What are you talking about?"

Before anyone could answer, and before Joe lost his temper and unloaded on Al, Al's phone rang. Puzzled, he answered. "Hello? Oh, Detective Pak, how are you? We actually have a development to tell you about." He listened for a while and said, "Oh, sorry, Rachel's on the line with someone else right now." He listened again and said, "Oh. Okay, hold on."

Al held out his phone to her. "He needs to talk to you right now."

"What's going on?" Tej asked.

Rachel put Al's phone to her ear while still holding hers out in speakerphone mode. "Detective Pak?"

"Rachel, we're ready to do the trade," he said.

"That's wonderful," she said. "My friends Lauren and Joanie are following someone that might be connected to McTeague."

"Yes, we're following that closely. I'm calling you, though, because McTeague wants you to be the hand-off person."

"Me?!" she squawked. 

"I'm afraid so."

She looked up at her friends, in front of her and on the phone, and said, "It looks like I'm going out tonight after all."

Thanks for reading this far! Things are starting to race toward a climax, so let's keep the momentum going by clicking on "Continue reading." If you liked what you just read, hit "Vote" and send this title up the ranks. If something doesn't ring true about police procedure, leave a comment. I strive for authenticity.