MONDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2017

Matthew's birthday was lackluster. He'd turned 16 on Sunday and the card that arrived on Saturday was the only communication he received from his father. Having heard his Grandmother reminding her son to send the card, Matthew believed that he wouldn't have even gotten it if his father hadn't been reminded. But the money he received for his birthday was enough. He got up early to go to school Monday morning but instead, hitched a ride with one of his adult drinking buddies to Centralia. They arrived in plenty of time for him to catch the 9:45 Greyhound to San Diego.

He boarded the bus with hope. He was finally going to be reunited with his mother and the little brother he adored more than anything in the world. So much shit had gone down over the last year but that was over. Though he'd never been to East Harbor, or even to the San Diego area, but he felt like he was finally going home after a long journey away. He knew it was about the time the school would call his grandparents to find out why they hadn't reported his absence. If the TV shows were right, he'd have a good 24 hours before anyone would officially begin looking for him, if the police would even bother. 'With my reputation,' Matthew reasoned, 'they may just chalk it up to me hanging out getting drunk.' He thought it was funny that his past behavior (of which he was terribly embarassed by) now may benefit him. But to be safe, he made sure no one could track his cellphone. He checked again to make sure he'd turned it off before he left the house so his last known location would be bum-fuck Washington.

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Lewis laid in bed, fearful of the consequences of his actions. He didn't want to do it, but Sarah had him by the balls and his life would be over if he didn't. She assured him no one would know he'd done it, but it didn't stop him from feeling sick over the whole thing.

"Lewis," George Fuerst shouted, "you're going to be late for school!"

"Dad, I don't feel good," Lewis yelled back. It wasn't a lie. He felt like shit, though not because of a virus or bacteria.

Moments later, there was a knock at his bedroom door. George peaked his head in and saw his son lying in bed.

"Wow, you do look like crap," said George with a tinge of concern in his voice. That simple gesture brought a smile to Lewis' face. It was rare that his father didn't treat him like one of his sailors.

"Yeah," said Lewis. "Can I just stay home and see if I can sleep it off?"

"Okay. I'll call the school," said George. "Get some sleep." He shut the door and called the school and left a message on the attendance voicemail on his way out to the car.

Lewis laid there and waiting to see if his world would come crashing down around him.

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"Man, I'm beat," said Scott Schultz. He, along with the other boys, had been visiting the East Harbor Rec Center in the morning. The community and school district had combined resources with a private grant and built a recreation center adjacent to the high school. The community would be allowed to use the school's track, tennis courts, and fields to exercise when the students weren't using them, and the students were able to use the recreation center for free. To get the ball rolling, Coach Harris resigned his coaching position to work as a fitness instructor for students at the rec center. As a coach, he was limited in his contact with his players. As the morning fitness instructor at the Rec Center, he was able to work with all the East Harbor students, middle and high school, to maximize their workouts and motivate them to work hard. When the rec center opened in November, he was worried students wouldn't show up. But soon, the lacrosse players, the group of students voluntarily working out in the off season together, showed up in the morning for conditioning. Since then, the middle school soccer players joined in and some players from other sports too. It was a bigger success than Mr. Harris had hoped, mainly because the students were already motivated. He was just there to help.

The local gymnastics club also worked out at the Rec Center and Michael took advantage of the equipment. Some days, instead of working out with weights on strength training days, Michael worked on his floor exercises, the pummel horse, and rings. There were times when Mr. Harris had to rouse the boys (and the girls) to get back to work because they would stop and watch Michael go through his routines. It had been awhile since he'd been able to do these workouts, but he was quick return to his prior level of proficiency.

Smelling better after their showers, the boys headed to their respective buildings. They always baked extra time into their morning routine to ensure plenty of opportunity to grab breakfast from the Café or the school's cafeteria. This morning, they decided they just wanted yogurt, fruit and the protein shakes they packed. Lukas and Scott headed to the cafeteria while Michael headed upstairs to throw his books in his locker first. He trudged up the stairs with his backpack and gym bag and dropped them on the floor as he worked the combination. He opened his locker and a folded piece of paper fell on the floor. Michael picked up the paper and found a note written on it. "I'm sorry" was all it said, Michael opened the paper and gasped in shock.

He staggered back from the locker and looked up and down the hallway. It seemed no one was there -- only Mrs. Harmon's classroom light was on.

Michael hurried over to Lukas' locker and ran the combination on his friend's locker. The same piece of paper fell out of his locker.

He turned to the classroom next to Lukas' locker and opened the door. The same folded paper was on the floor having been slipped under the door into the classroom. Michael ran to Mrs. Harmon's room.

She saw Michael and greeted her favorite student. "Hi Michael. You're early..." was all she got out before she saw the contents of the paper she found on the floor of her classroom.

Michael, tears streaming down his face in embarrassment, exclaimed, "They're everywhere! In all the lockers, classrooms... everywhere!"

Mrs. Harmon called the office, but no one answered. Thinking quickly, she did the one thing she knew to do to keep everyone out of the building. She pulled the fire alarm then used her cell phone to signal an active shooter situation. It may have been overkill, but it would alert the police and get everyone out of the building with no questions asked. When she looked back up to console her student, Michael was gone.

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Downstairs, the boys were enjoying breakfast when the fire alarm went off.

"Aww... seriously? I'm hungry!" said Scott.

"Well, I don't think they would have a drill BEFORE the students arrive," reasoned Lukas with a laugh. "Let's just take our food with us and eat outside."

The boys loaded up as Principal Trance came around the corner. "Run boys! We have an active shooter alert on the third floor. Go! Go! Go!"

"Michael's up there!" shouted Lukas.

"Got it. I'll let everyone know. You guys get out now!"

The boys did as they were told. Stepping out the front door, police cars were pulling up and the officers assigned to protect the boys were already running up to the building.

"Get over behind the van over there," shouted an FBI agent wearing a bullet proof vest and polarized sunglasses to enhance his vision.

It was that moment that the boys took the whole thing seriously. They ran down the steps and jumped behind the van as they were told. Lukas was visibly upset, and Scott gave his friend a hug.

"He'll be okay. He's Michael. That little shit can do anything," said Scott, willing himself to believe his own words.

Lukas pulled out his iPhone and did a broadcast text to the group the boys had created. "911 middle school" was all the text said, but it went to Lars, Megan, Carol, Brian, Simon, Gavin, Lukas, and Michael.

The adults sprang into action. Lars and Zach left breakfast on the table and headed down Maple Street. It would be easier to get close to the school on foot than in a car. Brian was in a meeting and ordered everyone into action. He set up plans for a potential kidnapping attempt at the middle school and it occurred to him that this could be a distraction for such an attempt. Squad cars from all over the city approached the school from all directions.

Gavin and Simon ran from the high school cafeteria to the front doors of the school to see what was going on. They tried the doors, but they locked.

Mrs. Guierrez called to them from around the corner. "Boys, get away from those doors. Hurry, come to my office." The boys turned and followed their Vice Principal in hopes of finding out what was going on.

School buses were directed to finish their routes and head to the closest elementary school to wait further instructions. Students on foot were herded to the high school, or other designated safe spot where they were out of the line of fire from the middle school building.

Mrs. Harmon came across the first FBI agent to reach the third floor and explained the entire situations. He reported back to Detective Parker to deescalate the situation, but they had an entirely different problem.

The Mrs. Harmon took the phone from the agent. "Brian? This is Mrs. Harmon, Lukas and Michael's homeroom teacher."

"Are you the teacher that found the picture?" asked Brian.

"Yes, Michael found them first and came to me and told me what was going on. Brian, Michael took off. He was in my classroom when I sent the alert but when I looked up, he was gone and I can't find him."

"Damn!"

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When Michael heard Mrs. Harmon make her call, he ran back into the hallway to find more photos. He knew he couldn't get to the ones in the lockers and decided it was best to not being around when the police, teachers and whoever else started finding the photos. But where to go?

Michael slipped into the stairwell and sat on the top step for a moment, trying to think of what to do. He pulled the photo left in his locker and looked at the message. "I'm sorry." 'What the fuck?' thought Michael. 'If you're sorry before you do it, then don't do it!' It looked like a kid's handwriting. Then something curious struck Michael. 'How would another student get this photo?'

He opened the photo again to take a better look. That's when he saw it.'

"Holy fuck!" exclaimed Michael as he became insane with anger. Gritting his teeth, he repeated, "No. No. No. No." He clutched the photo and stared in disbelief. Tears clouded his vision then quickly wipe away. Not knowing what to do with all the emotions and energy he felt, he ran down the stairs. At the bottom of the stairwell he screamed at the top of his lungs. Then he burst through the door out the back of the building. He just wanted to curl up and hide from the world, he saw the dumpsters and a little nook along the back of the school building and he ran there to hide. He pulled his knees to his chin, he clutched his legs and cried in anger, in disappointment, in pain, and in betrayal.

A black van pulled up. "You Michael Grant?" Michael looked up to see FBI on the side of the van. An agent got out of the passenger door and helped Michael to his feet. The boy was in a daze as he was led to the van. The man opened the side door and Michael saw Lewis laying funny along the far wall of the van.

"Lewis?" said Michael, as his brain reengaged.

The man tossed Michael into the van and climbed in after him. The van was in motion before the door even closed.

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"Sweep the damn building again!" screamed Brian Parker into the radio. "Every god damn inch!"

It was 30 minutes after the call and Michael was nowhere to be found. One group of Agents was searching the building for Michael. Another group of local officers cut locks from lockers and cleared the building of copies of the photo.

"Detective Parker, I have all the patrol car drivers. You said you wanted to talk to them."

"Yeah," said Brian, following the officer.

"Did anyone see a vehicle leaving the scene?"

A few reported seeing local residents driving to work, or bringing kids to school and being sent home, but then McNally spoke up.

"I don't know if this is important, but I thought it was odd passing an FBI van going away from the school, not to the school."

"Oh shit," as much as Brian's job was to keep his cool during these situations, he was too close. He loved that boy as his own son. Tears welled in his eyes.

"Dispatch, order all patrol cars to stop every FBI van in the county. Someone driving a black van with FBI painted on the side in yellow may have abducted one male, aged 11, about 4' 11", brown hair, blue eyes. Name is Michael Grant. Suspects may have abducted more than one child. All children are in grave danger. Abductors are to be considered armed and dangerous."

Brian turned to find Lars standing there in shock, only about eight feet away.

"What do you know? I have to tell his mother something," said Lars. He was pissed. Brian promised the boys were safe and yet again, the detective let him down.

"Hang on a second," asked Brian. "Mrs. Gutierrez, this is an emergency. I need every school in the district to confirm the safety and location of every child not in a classroom. Contact parents and if the parent isn't home with their child right now, tell them this is an emergency and they need to have a trusted adult, or themselves, confirm their child's location. We have one boy presumed kidnapped and there may be more."

"Is it Michael?" asked Mrs. G of one of her all-time favorite students.

"Yes."

He got off the call with the Vice Principal and returned his attention to Lars. "I need to talk to her," said Brian. The two men walked to an ambulance where Megan sat on the tailgate, wrapped in a blanket with a medic talking to her.

"Megan," started Brian, "I'm sorry. First, I think they got Michael. I believe that men dressed as FBI agents abducted Michael in a van disguised as an FBI vehicle."

Megan sat numbly staring at nothing.

"Second, I think we have the biggest lead in the case to date," he handed her the photo. "Do you recognize this man?"

Megan looked at the photo. It was a screen capture from the video of the night Michael was beaten and left for dead. But someone had made a huge mistake.

The video Natasha stole and sent to Lewis was the original, raw video of that night, not the edited version that hid the identities of the adults with a soundtrack laid over the video to mask voices.

The still shot distributed around the school showed the moment where the man in the mask pulled on the chains and dislocated Michael's shoulder. The boy is clearly in pain and crying. But the surprise is the man in the mask had his mask hanging around his neck. Lost in his fucking of the young boy, the man's eyes were closed and he was clearly in ecstasy from the pain he inflicted on the boy and the pleasure he took from fucking the young ass.

"Oh my god," said Megan in disbelief. "Oh my god." She sat there and shook her head.

Lars sat down beside Megan and rubbed her back. "Megan," asked Lars, "tell us what's wrong?"

She pointed to the man with the mask around his neck. The man abusing her young son. The man dislocating the boy's shoulder and the man there the night the boy was beaten and left to die in a ditch in the next state over.

"That's Bruce."

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Mrs. Gutierrez called the attendance officer, school secretaries and administrative assistance into the conference room immediately.

"We have a school emergency. One student is presumed kidnapped and we need to confirm the whereabouts of every student in the district. Grab your red binder, page 35. Do you each know your role?"

Each person in the room named their role and Mrs. Gutierrez noted that all roles were covered.

"Get to work right now. We don't have a second to waste."

She looked up at the movement at the door, Gavin and Simon were standing there with the door ajar.

Gavin was shaking. Simon put an arm around his friend and Simon spoke. "It's Michael, isn't it?"

Mrs. Gutierrez didn't know what to say so she said the only thing she knew, "They think so."

The boys took off running and searched the building until they found a door through which they could escape. They sprinted across the Mallway to join their friends and families. Simon found Lukas and grabbed him away from his father and held on for dear life, practically crushing the smaller boy who squeezed back just as tightly. Gavin, on the other hand, came face-to-face with his father, the man that promised everyone would be safe. He stopped and glared at the man that let him down and let Michael be kidnapped. Gavin sat beside Megan and his arms around Michael's mother. Megan grabbed onto her son's boyfriend.

"They have my baby," said cried on Gavin's shoulder. She clutched the teen as her entire would seemed to be crashing down around her.

"I know," he said, tears streamed down his face too.