Steve drove straight to the gas station where Arron's last location had pinged. He strode inside and flashed his badge.
"I need to see your camera footage from the gas pumps," he said.
The man behind the counter nodded and led Steve into a small back room filled with monitors. He clicked open the footage, rewound it to 8 a.m., and let it play.
"You need anything else," the man said, "just holler."
Steve stared at the screens for hours, watching the time crawl toward afternoon.
Then, at 1 p.m., he saw it.
John's car pulled up.
Arron climbed out, limping toward the bathroom.
John pumped gas.
Five minutes later, John walked to the side of the building.
And then Steve saw her.
A woman.
Hidden by a hood.
Fast.
Strong.
Together, she and John grabbed Arron under the arms and dragged him toward the car like he weighed nothing. She yanked his phone from his hand and threw it into the bushes.
Steve's stomach twisted.
He grabbed a blank CD and burned the 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. footage.
Then he rushed outside and dialed Courtney.
It went straight to voicemail.
"Courtney, call me back as soon as you get this," Steve said.
He hung up, heart pounding.
What he didn't know was that Courtney was already missing too.
---
Jennifer arrived at her old house and found a box with her name taped across the top. She smiled, thinking it was from Beth or Matt.
She opened the door, stepped inside-
And never came back out.
She was the next to be taken.
---
Mark and I walked home from school together. The house was quiet, Courtney nowhere in sight.
"She must be working late," Mark said, trying to sound calm.
We cleaned the house, and I started making dinner the way Courtney taught me.
But something felt wrong.
Very wrong.
---
Courtney woke up on a cold concrete floor.
Her head pounded.
Her hands were tied.
When her eyes focused, she saw Arron tied to a chair...
and Jose tied to another.
Blood everywhere.
"Where-where are we?" she whispered.
Jose shook his head weakly. "I don't know. I've been here for a while. Nothing good happens here."
Arron lifted his head, voice shaking. "Courtney... where are the kids?"
"They're at school... or maybe home by now. I don't know," she said. "They're going to be worried."
---
Across town, Steve's phone rang.
It was Matt.
"I think I know something that'll help you find everyone," Matt said. "You need to get to-"
Static swallowed the rest of the sentence.
But Steve knew one thing: this wasn't random anymore.
This was personal.
---
Far away, in a hidden location...
Ron smirked at Ashley.
"We've got everyone right where we need them to be," he said.
Ashley giggled, a sharp, cold sound. "Yes we do. And I can't wait to see the look on his family's faces when we kill everyone he loves right in front of him."
Ron nodded. "Soon. But first, we kill John. No loose ends."
Ashley's smile widened. "This is what they get for tearing our family apart. They made us killers... now we're killers."
Ron leaned in and kissed her.
Their plan was finally in motion.
And no one on the outside knew where any of them were.