St Vincent Hospital East Pavilion
12:18pm Portland, OR

Michael and I were waiting reluctantly outside of the hospital while Lydia went inside to try to find her mom. We both insisted on going in with her, but she wasn't having it. When we finally got Maria Sinclair's name from Lydia's father, it wasn't too hard to track her down. A few calls to Anne and she was able to give us the name of this hospital. The tricky part was finding out which hotel Lydia was in. By the time I was able to put an alert on her credit card, she had already rented the car. It was when she booked the room that I finally found her.

I couldn't even explain the relief that I felt when she opened that hotel room door. Seeing her there unharmed...I needed to feel her. I needed her in that moment more than anything else. The fact that she was just as eager for me, I think, is the reason I told her I loved her. I was afraid to say it to her at first. I was scared that she wasn't ready to hear it. Especially after I admitted everything I did. This morning I explained everything to her and we promised not to keep secrets. Of any kind.

"Have you gotten any updates yet?" Michael asked as he walked up behind me.

I speed-dialed Anne. "Not yet. I'm calling her now." I had Anne running facial recognition for PSYCHO Amy. I really hoped she got something fast because the longer we used that, the bigger the risk of the NYPD finding out.

"Hello, Mr. Williams," Anne said into the phone.

"Hey, any luck?"

"Nothing yet regarding Amy. I was just about to call you, actually. We finally got some results back regarding the incident from July 4th. It appears someone did try to tamper with your security."

I fucking knew it. I was surprised it took this long to get some results. "Do we know who it was?"

"James Adams."

My heart dropped into my stomach. "What?"

"Yea, sir. It appears he implanted some kind of virus that continued to search through some of your private files."

When she stopped, I knew I wasn't going to like what she said next.

"What did he get access to, Anne?"

"The facial recognition software, and something else..."

There's more? I knew I should have beat that guy's ass in Atlantic City. Or better yet, I should have sent his ass to jail the last time he did this.

"What else, Anne?"

"It appears he had access to the restraining order you have against Amy. My gut tells me he's the one who helped her escape. Perhaps he's using her obsession with you to his advantage."

This is bad. This is really bad. James was a piece of shit, but he was smart. If he had gotten access to my software, then he could have found us already. He knew we would be searching for Amy, but we had no idea to look for him, too. He and Amy must have been staying off the fucking radar while we are out here like sitting ducks.

"Anne, I need you to call Sheriff Mills at the 61st. Tell him I'm calling in my favor. Have him reach out to Portland law enforcement and get James' and Amy's pictures everywhere. He knows about the facial recognition software, so tell him everything that's going on. Also, make sure to tell them to watch all financials and have him pull any strings he can. He knows money isn't a problem here."

"Will do, Mr. Williams."

"Thank you." Hanging up the phone I looked to Michael.

"This is bad," he said as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Yeah, we need to figure this shit out." I started pacing, running my hands through my hair over and over again. "Fuck!" I slammed my hands on the hood of my car. I knew what my expression looked like right now. I was fucking losing it.

"What if-- what if we can't stop them? What if something happens to her? Christ," I said in an anguished voice, "I can't lose her."

"I know," Michael said as he laid a hand on my shoulder. "I'm just as worried. I finally got my sister back and now she's a target from a PSYCHO and a crazy nerd thief. I refuse to lose her, too." He let out a long breath. "Okay, you speak nerd. If you were this guy, what would be your next move?"

Ignoring his nerd joke, I tried to put myself in James' position. He came to me three years ago wanting to combine companies. I knew he was as shady as they came so I disagreed. Then, almost two years later, he made an attempt at stealing my information. He didn't take anything. and I had his company shut down. He lost everything when that happened. But what he did was illegal and he was lucky I didn't send his ass to jail. I should have. Now, he made a second attempt and actually did get vital information.

"He accuses me of ruining his life. Which, in a way, I did. If he knows about Lydia and I, then he would come after her. He has access to my software and most likely assisted PSYCHO Amy in the escape. They would be coming here but keeping a low profile." I paced as I continued, and Michael listened quietly. "They are probably in a warehouse or something. They wouldn't get a hotel, he's too smart for that."

"So," Michael started, "We need to find any abandoned warehouses or similar."

Michael pulled out his phone and I frowned at him. "Who are you calling?"

"I know someone in real estate who might be able to narrow the search for us." He put the phone to his ear and flashed a smile. "You aren't the only one with connections, Nerd Boy."

I listened while he instructed his associate, Adam, to locate any and all warehouses, or buildings similar, that have been abandoned or recently foreclosed on.

"He should have something in a couple hours," Michael said as he hung up his phone. "How long has she been in there?"

I looked at my watch. "About forty-minutes. Do you think--" My cell phone rang, cutting off my sentence. I saw Anne's name on the caller-id.

"Anne, what do--"

"She's there! Boss, she's there now."

Even though I understood her clearly...I didn't understand her at the same time. "What?"

I have never heard Anne's voice like this. Panicked. Scared. "Facial recognition found a match. She entered the hospital ten minutes ago!"

"Oh, God..."

"What?" Michael asked with alarm.

I hung up my phone and ran straight into the hospital. I didn't have to look back to know that Michael was right behind me. We raced by the visitor's center as the woman manning the desk called, "Stop or I'm calling security!"

"Call them and send them to the cardio floor! NOW!" I called and Michael and I followed the signed to the third floor.

We raced up the stairs and paused when we finally got to the cardio floor. We split up, searching everywhere for any sign of her. This area of the hospital was so large it seemed impossible. I heard the sound of pounding footsteps behind me and felt someone grab me by the arm.

"Stop right there! You have no business-"

"Please, there is someone after my girlfriend. You have to help us find her."

That seemed to grab the security guard's attention. "What? Who are you talking about?"

"My girlfriend, Lydia Preston, someone is after her. They escaped from jail in New Orleans and was seen entering this hospital ten minutes ago! Please help us!"

"Excuse me, did you say Lydia Preston?"

I looked over to the brunette that was the spitting image of Lydia. "You're Dr. Sinclair. Her mother."

She seemed to shift back and forth on her feet, uncomfortable. "Yes. Is she in trouble?"

"You met with her right?"

"Yes," the doc said before frowning. "But I returned to my shift five minutes ago. She said she would meet me tomorrow so we could talk more. What's going on?"

"God dammit! What the fuck!" I was losing my fucking mind. I couldn't think. Couldn't breathe.

"Anything?" Michael said as he ran up.

"Nothing. You?"

I shook my head, unable to form words. Where was she? Was she okay?

Some chatter came from over the guard's radio. "Sir, we may have a situation on the third floor. Come to the north side."

"That's where I was talking to Lydia," Dr. Sinclair said nervously.

Against the guard's orders, Michael, the doc and I followed the guards to the north side of the cardio floor. There was an OUT OF ORDER sign on the elevator and Dr. Sinclair walked up to it and pushed the button.

The elevator opened and we all got that sinking feeling. "This elevator isn't broken. This was a trap."

Over to the left by the stairwell, a cell phone went off. I ran to it and I already knew it was her phone. I answered and put the phone on speaker. "Hello?"

'Well, well. There he is. Missed us by five minutes."

James. "What do you want?"

"You ruined my life. I'm just...returning the favor. Someone is going to call you in two hours with the ransom information."

"I want to hear her voice." I was going to give him whatever he wanted anyway, but I needed to hear her voice first.

"Sean?" Her voice came through the speaker and I squeezed the phone.

"Lydia....are you alright?"

There was a loud crashing sound before I heard her yell quickly, "Don't come, Sean! It's a trap!! It's--"

I heard the sound of a scream before James' voice came back on the line. "Two hours. This number."

Then the line went dead.