I looked into her eyes, and in them I saw what I saw before.  She quickly glanced away with a little smile on her face.  Turning her face back to me, I looked again, and found myself with feelings for her.  She walked close to me and then turned aside.

"No," she said, shaking her head.  "I just can’t."  She let go of my hands and walked over to a nearby bench.  I stood there for a second, watching her put her head on her hands, and then walked over.

"May I join you?"  I asked.  She moved a little, and I sat down.  I went to put my arm around her back, but she shrugged it off.  "Kendall, what’s wrong?"

"Nothing."  The typical female response, yet as always, I knew something was up.  Drawing a little closer to her, I put my head on my hands and said, "Maybe if I tell you what I’m struggling with, maybe you can tell me what you’re thinking?"  She didn’t respond.  "Well, let’s see.  How do I put this?  Kendall — I don’t know."  I took a deep breath.  "Kendall, tonight, after we fought those two guys I looked into your eyes and," I looked toward her, "I found that I had feelings for you.  I don’t understand it, but I like you Kendall."

She lifted her teary-eyed face up from the security of her hands.  A tear slid down her cheek, and she sniffled.  "But I can’t…  I can’t love you!  You’re engaged to a beautiful girl.  I saw that look in your eyes at dinner the other night."

"I know," I said.  I attempted once again to put my arm around her, this time with success.  "Let’s go somewhere a little warmer and talk about this, shall we?"  I asked.  She nodded, and I helped her to the car.  We got inside and drove to the hotel.  She walked in, and I took her coat.  Her face all red, and sniffling, I suggested that she change in the bathroom and I in the room.  We did.

A little while later, she came out of the bathroom.  I sat on my bed, in the middle, and patted the place next to me.  She came over and sat about six inches away from me, legs together and hands folded in her lap.  "It just won’t work," Kendall stated.

"What won’t work?"

"You and me.  You’re supposed to marry Tracy!"  Realizing what she was saying, I got confused.  My mind went into overload as I quickly ran through all of the dreams that I had had about my marriage to Tracy.  That case a year ago where I thought that I would meet that girl at that certain time in Nanopolis at my office, the date I was supposed to get engaged, and the date of the marriage seemed so real in my mind.  I was positive that Tracy was the one I was supposed to marry, or was I so sure?

Kendall continued to cry.  I moved closer to her.  I put my hand on her folded hands, and took my left hand and put it on her chin to move it towards me.  "Kendall?"

"Yes."  Holding out my arms, she gave me hers and we hugged.  I put my left arm underneath her legs and picked her up.  Walking over to a nearby recliner, I sat down with her lying on my lap, her head lying on my chest.  I kissed her forehead.

"Ahh, I know what you mean.  You thought that I wouldn’t remember what we were taught in OTM!"

"Well?"

"Sure," she said, pushing me down into the snow.  We made our imprints on the world, well at least in the snow, and then went back to the car.  We went to a fast food restaurant and then went back to the hotel.  We scanned the channels for something interesting to watch.  Unfortunately, there wasn’t, so we opted to go back outside and do some more ice skating.

The time came for us to go to back to the Red River.  Kendall proposed to change clothes, but I didn’t see the need for it.  I thought that she would just make herself more of a target.  She conceded and we left for the Red River.  Walking inside the club, we went and took a seat.  I called a waiter over, and I asked him about the DG.  He had no information.  Just then, we spotted the trio over in the corner.  They were roughing up another couple.  I looked into Kendall’s eyes, and we thought just about the same thing.  The couple was forced up from their chairs and escorted outside.  We followed them out.  "Excuse me,"  I said.  The lead man turned and faced me.  "I said, Excuse me.  I don’t figure that they wanted to leave."

"It’s none of your business."  The one guy said.  The gentleman and lady looked frightened.

"Oh, I would say that it was.  You see, you tried to take my date away from me just the other night."  I said, reaching behind me for Kendall’s hand.  She offered it to me and came into the light.  The guy let the couple loose.  They three of them came after us.  "Just stay behind me."  I whispered to Kendall.  Meanwhile, the couple went in the club and called the police.  I took on the two bullies while Kendall took on their leader.  She was doing a good job.  We threw the three of them in the corner and the police came and took them away.

On the way back to the hotel, I turned to Kendall and said, "I guess you really can take care of yourself."

"I told you I could.  I took Karate for a little while."

"A little while!  From what I saw you are probably a black belt!"

"Well," she said, her cheeks showing a slight blush, "do you think that I’d let you get hurt after all that you have done for me?"  Looking into her eyes I saw something that was not there before.  If I did not know better I would have said that she liked me.  The scary part was that something deep down inside of me liked her too.

Snapping out of my daze, Kendall and I went to the tubing place.  We got our tubes, but everyone had gone to the winter games in town so we had the place to ourselves.  We rode down a few times, and it began to snow.  After one of the trips down she got up.  Her cheeks were red, and she had snow in her hair and hat.  She reached out her hand toward me.  She took me over to return the tubes, and we walked over to the wooded area.  "Adam."

"Hmm."  I replied.

"It sure is pretty up here."

"Yes, that it is."

"It must be wonderful to have a white Christmas."

"Christmas just wouldn’t be Christmas for me without snow."  I said, looking at her.  The giant flakes of snow continued to fall all around us.  We stopped.  Peering out of the corner of my eye I saw our tracks beginning to be covered over with the snow.

"ADAM!!  Wait, I didn’t mean it," she said, trying to get up.  She just kept sliding and falling.  I came back to her.

"Promise not to pull me down?"

"Yes," she stated.  I offered my hand, and with it she was able to get up.  She shook a little, and I wobbled a little.

"Easy killer.  Don’t try to be world class all at once.  Let’s take this one step at a time."  I showed her how to move her feet to get the rhythm and motion going correctly.  We skated together for a while before I turned to her and asked, "Are you ready to try this on your own?"

"Sure," she said.  I let go of her hand.  I slowed up a bit, and she went a little faster.  It seemed like she had gotten the knack of it.  I chased her, and she went faster.  She started to lose her balance.  She fell backwards, I reached out and caught her.  I had her under her arms.  We were still going pretty fast.

"Are you okay?"  I asked her.

"Thanks.  That might’ve hurt."

"Not a problem.  Can you get up?"

"Umm."  She started, trying to get enough force to get up, but she kept slipping.

"Okay, here’s what you do.  All I want you to do, is start to bring your feet backwards, I’ll lift you."

"All right."  She said.  I started to lift her up.  She was a lot lighter than I figured.  Easing her over to my right side, I kept my arm around her back.  She put hers around me.  "This is a lot of fun, Adam.  Thanks for bringing me."

"Let’s be honest with each other, all right?"

"About what?"

"You’ve never skated in your life before now, right?"

"I wondered how you figured that one out."

"And I. Well, I can’t swim."

"You can’t swim!  That’s so funny!"

"Hey, I could let you go right now!"  I said, loosening my grip on her side.

"No, no, I didn’t say that.  I was just remarking how things are different from where we live."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I grew up in water, practically."

"You’re not a mermaid are you?"  I asked with a smile on my face.  She punched me in the stomach.

"No.  And you were born in the north so you know about all these snow things."

"And skating."

"And skating," she repeated, "It just goes to show how much we could learn from each other."

"Oh, I get it.  Well, my dear southern belle, are y’all hungry enough to get something to eat?"

"Sure’n enough I am."

"Well then follow me."  I took her over to the booth and exchanged our skates.  We put back on our boots, and we walked back to the car.  Taking a path that was not used, which you could tell because there were no other foot prints in the snow, Kendall was struggling walking beside me.  "Walk in the holes I make."  I instructed her.  She started to follow in my foot-steps, literally.  We got to a place where no one could see, and I turned to her and said, "Would you like to make a snow angel?"

"Thank you, warden," she said, with a grin on her face.  It would be a long time before we would need to be at the Red River, so I suggested to Kendall that we do something while we were waiting.  "How about some swimming?  This hotel has an indoor swimming pool.  That would be fun!"  I tried to convince her otherwise, but she insisted.  When she gave me the "Puppy dog" eyes, it was over.  I nodded yes, and she got excited.

"Just one question."

"Okay?"

"How do you get over there in your swimsuit?  It’s has to be below freezing out there."

"Good point."

"Let me just go and see if it is even open, or there is a life-guard, stuff like that."

"Okay."  She said.  I left the room and walked toward the pool.  As I arrived at the pool, the door was locked and a sign read: "Closed for repairs."  Returning to the room, I opened the door.  Kendall was standing in her one-piece bathing suit wearing high heels.  "Shut the door!!"  She screamed.  After I shut it, she asked, "Well, what do you think?"

"Umm, blue is a good color on you."  Giving me one of those looks of hers, I said, "The pool is closed for repairs.  Though I did see how to get over there without getting too cold."  She was very disappointed, or at least that is what she wanted me to believe.  I suggested that we go sno-tubing.  Not knowing what this was, I had to explain to her, "You sit on a tube and slide down a hill."

"And that’s what you call fun."

"All right.  I admit that it doesn’t sound like fun, but neither does soccer if you figure that all that you do in it is kick a ball around trying to get it into a net."

"I get the picture.  Do you know where to go?"

"Well, let’s see if the hotel manager has any suggestions."  Calling up the manager, he gave us the name of a place that would not only be fun to slide down, but would also provide the tubes on which to ride.  We got bundled up, and headed over there.  As we arrived, we noticed that there were not many people there, for it was just after one o’clock.  We rented some tubes and had the slopes to ourselves.  Sliding down was exhilarating.  I showed her all different ways of doing it, spinning, making jumps, and other things.  Besides landing head first in the snow a couple of times, being covered in snow, and the time she landed on my back, it was great fun.

Children started to appear, so I asked her if she wanted to ice-skate.  She nodded and I took her over to the skating rink.  There we traded our tubes for skates.  I laced up quickly and moved out onto the ice.  I’m no Olympic figure skater, mind you — though very few of us are — but I can manage to get myself going, and stay balanced.  I learned a lot from Amanda, though.  Kendall had a little rougher time with it.  I can imagine why.  If you figure that she lives in the south and the only place they can skate is on indoor rinks, well, us northerners corner the market in outside rink availability.

Enough of all that, the point is, she was having trouble staying on her skates.  Coming over to me, I could tell that she either hadn’t skated before, or she had forgotten everything.  I smiled, thinking how funny it was watching her try to skate.  As I was thinking this, she fell backwards.  I skated over to her.  "That ice hurts, doesn’t it?"

"I’ll say.  They need to give us cushions for when we fall down."  She commented.

Offering my hand to help her up I said, with a smile, "I don’t see anyone else falling."  She took my hand, and pulled me down.  I landed on my knees and hands.  Getting up I said, "Fine, get up yourself!"  I skated off in the direction of some other people.

"All right, you go dry your hair and I go change my clothes."  I opened my suitcase and on top there was a sweater and turtle neck that still had tags on them.  I looked over at Kendall, and she smiled.  I gave her my you-shouldn’t-have-done-this, you-didn’t-need-to-do-this, but I’m-kinda-glad-you-did-this-anyway look, tore off the tags, grabbed a pair of my jeans and socks, and went into the bathroom.  I put on the clothes.  She’s very sneaky.  All of it fit.  Walking outside, I asked, "How did you know what size to get?"

Turning off the hair dryer, she said, "Easily, I checked your tag while doing your makeup!"  We matched, which I would guess was the point of it.  Seeing as there was no more danger of people finding out who I was, I was able to go without makeup.  I was still kinda bruised, but it looked okay.  She just put on enough makeup and stuff that girls do, and we were off.  I stopped by the rental car place to give them the car I had, which was better than the one I had rented, telling them that someone stole mine and picked out a new one.  They were kind of hesitant, but I got them to call Michelle in Nanopolis, and she said that I was a good risk.  They made me promise to return it, though.

Arriving at the police station, I parked across the street, got out of my car, and went around to the other side.  Kendall had gotten out, and we went, together, into the station.  Walking inside, an officer called us over.  "You look a whole lot better, sir.  I see that you’ve found your young lady."

"Yes sir.  What is the problem?  You said that it was urgent."

"And indeed it is, my boy.  Those two guys have been bailed out of jail.  An anonymous amount of money was mailed here, postmarked this morning.  It seems that someone wanted them out today.  I just thought that you’d like to know that."

"Thanks."

"You’re welcome.  If you’d like, I could send a guard with you."

"That won’t be necessary, but thank you anyway."

"Suit yourself.  If you need anything, just call."

"Will do," I said, turning to Kendall.  I escorted her back to the car, and we drove back to the hotel.  Once inside, and our jackets and shoes taken off (to prevent tracking the snow in the room), Kendall sat on her bed with one foot on it.  I stood thinking.

"Penny for your thoughts," Kendall said.

"Well, I was just thinking.  What could those guys be up to?  You didn’t tell them where you were staying?"

"No."

"So they can’t get us here.  I think that I’ll pay another visit to the Red River tonight."

"Why?"

"I want to catch these two guys."

"I’m coming too."

"No, Kendall, I don’t want you hurt."

"Believe it or not, I can take care of myself."

"And what about the other night?"

"The other night, I was trying not to ruin our cover!"

"Right."

"How about you in Orlando?"  She said, with a grin.

"Okay, okay.  You win.  You can come along, except you’re not leaving my sight."

Morning came quickly.  A knock came on the door at around ten.  Both of us were still sleeping, so I arose.  Since we were in two different beds, seeing as we were not really married and all, it was easy for me to get the door without disturbing her.  I made my bed quickly, so as not to arouse suspicion.  I then made it look like I had gotten out of her bed, and moved the covers up on her so it was not possible to see that she was wearing clothes.  Going over to the door, I moved my hair into place, as much as was possible.  I opened it, and a muscular guy with red hair said, "Sir, can I tell you what Jesus Christ has done for me?"

"Shhh.  The wife’s asleep.  Sir, you are a blessing.  Let me tell you what he as done for me!"  I related to him where I was the day before, and then told him that both Kendall and I were saved.  He told me of a good church in the area, handing me a business card.  He left.  I shut the door, and as I turned around, I saw Kendall propped up on one elbow.

"How did I get here?"

"We drove in a car."

"Yes, but the last thing I remember was driving."

"Oh, you mean how you got in here."

"Right."

"I carried you."

"But aren’t you sore?"

"A little, but I figured you rather sleep in here, then out in the car."  She got up, and walked over to me.  Putting her arms around my head, she kissed me.

"What was that for?"

"For taking me on this adventure, for the coat, for rescuing me from the guy, for bringing me into the hotel last night — for everything!"

"Wow.  Thank you.  It’s been a lot of fun, but it’s not over yet.  Do you still want to do this?"

"Umm hmm."  She said, nodding her head enthusiastically.

"All right, let’s see if we can find out where we are to go to next."  Turning on the speaker to the other room, I heard a lady humming.  "That doesn’t sound like anyone I know," I said, looking toward Kendall.  She shrugged her shoulders.  I reached for the phone and dialed the operator.  He told me that Tricia and Tracy had left early in the morning.  Kendall went to take a shower, since she obviously had the time.  I called the airport, but they would not give me the names of the passengers.  I then called the police station I had stopped at the night before.  I told them that I had returned.  They told me that I should come over right away.  I heard the shower stop.  I told him that I would be over as soon as I could.  Kendall came out.  She looked like something out of Arabian Knights.  She had a towel wrapped around her head, and another around her body.

"I forgot to bring in my clothes!"  She said.  Digging through her bags with one hand, while holding her towel up with the other, she picked out the things she wanted to wear.  She was going to wear another skirt until I encouraged her to wear some jeans.  She thought about it, and agreed.  She went back into the bathroom to change her clothes.  I returned to my phone calling.  I called Tracy’s home and got her to call my house.  I was desperate to find out where they had gone.  Kendall walked out of the bathroom wearing a turtleneck and sweater combination that matched the jeans.  She was also wearing a pair of nice white sneakers.  I told her that we needed to leave right away.  "Adam, my hair’s all wet."

Morning came, and Kendall moved as the Sun’s light shown onto her face.  She awoke.  I had been awake, watching the fire.  She moved back away from me, not realizing that she was as close to me as she was.  "What time is it?"  She asked.

"Somewhere around eleven I think," I stated.

"Eleven!  We’d better get up."

"That’s probably a very good idea."

"What happened with those two guys?"

"Not much.  I had just started to fight back when these two girls came around the corner.  One had a gun.  They called the police.  I got away, went to the police station, and had them call their boss.  They traced the call to here, so here I am."

"Do you think that there is any chance that he left your car out there?"

"Probably not.  I’ll go check.  Will you be all right here?"

"No, I want to go too."

"But you’re not dressed for this."

"So, I’d rather not be alone in a house in the middle of nowhere."

"All right," as I pulled off the blanket, I saw that she had nothing on her feet.  "Do you have something for your feet?"

"Well, the hose I’m wearing."

"Ha, ha.  Very Funny.  I mean, what did you wear to the club?"

"These," she said, reaching over the arm of the sofa to grab some high heeled shoes."

"All right, give them to me."  I found a knife and cut off the heels.  Going into the cellar, I grabbed my snowshoes and gave them to her to put on her feet.  I had walking shoes on, but they were warm enough as long as they didn’t get too wet.  We went to the front door and opened it.  A brisk wind hit the left side of our faces.  Kendall shivered.  I reached my hand back and she came forward.  Putting my arm around her back, we journeyed onward.  When we finally made it to the spot where my car should have been, it was not.  His was there, though.  I quickly got her inside the car.  I got in the driver’s side, after checking the tires.  I looked around the steering column.  No keys.

"What do we do now?"  Kendall asked, chattering her teeth.  I could see why.  I had forgotten that she was wearing a dress.  Looking around, I could find nothing to give her to warm her.  I opened up the fuse box and when I crossed two wires the engine turned over.  I had to do it a few times before the car actually started.  The only problem was that it was stick and I drove automatic.  I struggled through it.  All right, so I did get some coaching from Kendall.  Boy, can’t let me get away with anything!

Driving back into town, the car finally became warm enough for the heat to turn on inside the cabin.  As we arrived at our hotel, it was way into the night.  Everyone had fallen asleep, including Kendall next to me.  She looked too peaceful to disturb.  I turned off the car by uncrossing the wires.  She moved a bit, but did not awake.  Getting out, I went over to the hotel door.  Unlocking it, I turned on the light.  I walked back over to the car.  Opening the door, she shivered a bit, but did not awake.  I put one arm under her legs and another behind her back.  Lifting her up, she moved a little, putting her head on my chest, and smiling a little.  For a second, I wondered what she was dreaming.  The second ended.  I shut the door with one of my feet, and walked into the room.  Setting her down on her bed, I took her shoes off, and put the covers on her.  She seemed warm enough, although she should have been burning up with all the covering she had.  I left the heater on low so that it would not wake her.  I took my now wet shoes and socks off and climbed into my bed as well.

“Why don’t you just sit down for a bit?”

“Because I don’t want to.  Is that all right with you?  Now if you don’t mind, why don’t you come down with me and see if we can’t get that generator running.”  A few minutes and Kendall had lunch prepared.  Good thing too.  This old adventurer was getting a might tired.

“Lunch is served,” Kendall called.  We walked into the kitchen and there were peanut-butter and jelly sandwiches on the table.  “It was all I could find,” she stated.  We ate them, and then the guy decided to talk.

“I’m not really the guy you want.  I was called up on the phone and told that I would be paid a million dollars if I would watch a girl in the middle of nowhere and make sure that the guy took a long time getting her out.”

“Why?”

“How should I know?  He told me to cut the phone lines after his guys called me, to cover the path with snow, but to the leave the car parked where this guy might find it.  Only, as I said before, you are not the guy he described.”

“Do you know what your boss thought the guy would do once he found the girl?”

“No.  The money was enough for me to take the risk.”

“Why would he take me all the way out here and get you to come out here?”  Kendall asked.

“Who are you, anyway?”  I asked the man.

“My name is unimportant right now.  The point is, there’s a storm coming and we don’t have much power left.”

“Let me guess, the gasoline is in the car,” I stated.

“Nope, there is none.”

“Great.  That means we’ll have to go out to my car.”

“I wouldn’t advise it.  I was told to make a trap.  Once you came in, snow would have covered your path.”

“You lunatic!!!”  I said.  “He’s buried you alive with us!  Can’t you see that?  What’s your million dollars worth out here in the cold?!  Where’s the nearest house?”

“Five miles all directions.  They picked this place.”  Standing to my feet, I ran my fingers through my hair.  By now, I was overcome with fatigue.  I reached for the wall and missed.

I woke up hours later.  Kendall was sleeping next to me.  We were both wrapped in five quilts.  In my groggy state, I figured that the power had gone out.  I went to get up, but Kendall’s arm on top of my chest prevented that.  It was night from what I could observe.  What really bugged me was that there was no sign of that guy.  I nudged Kendall.  “What?  What is it?”

“Kendall, where is that guy?”

“He’s right over — He’s gone!!”  I got up and surveyed the area.  There were tracks leaving the house going back toward the cars.

“I bet he never did block us in, he only used that to keep us here.”

“What’ll we do now?  I live in Florida, I’m not used to all this cold.”

“It’s all right,” I said, trying to reassure her at the same time I reassured myself.  I ran my fingers through her hair.  “We’ll make it.  First, I think I’ll see if I can start a fire.”  Getting up, I re-wrapped Kendall and went to the cellar.  I found some wood, but the dampness of the cellar made it virtually unusable.  Returning upstairs, I took some of the tables and chairs, broke them, and threw them into the fireplace.  I successfully started a fire.  Going around the house, I looked for things that might be useful in an escape attempt.  Not finding much, I returned to Kendall.  “I’ve got a fire going in the other room.  You may want to come over there.”

“Help me,” she said.  Amazing, I thought, just a little while ago she considered herself better than I.  She reached out her hand and I gave her mine.  Wow!  That felt different.  Her hand, so cold and mine so warm.  She rose and grabbed hold of me.  “Will we be all right?”  She asked, grasping tightly.  I found myself putting my arms around her.

“Not a problem.  I think it would be best if we waited until the morning to try anything, though.  Get some rest,” I said.  I picked her up and carried her to the fireplace.  I dozed in and out of sleep so I could make sure that the fire kept going.  We were both on the sofa.  She had her head on my chest, and I had my arm around the back of her head with my hand on her shoulder.  Every once in a while, you could hear the wind creaking through the old boards of the house.

At day break, I saw a house.  It was a very large house, with a gate and walls around it.  I wondered why they needed a gate when there was no road to it.  Now that I was in the sunlight, I could see why.  The snow had been recently moved there.  Stealthily crawling over to the wall, I found a spot where I could look over it.  I saw a window.  In the window, I saw Kendall.  She was tied in a chair with the guy pointing a gun at her.  I was not close enough to read their lips, but I could tell that she wasn’t happy.

I took a chance that he was alone, and I hopped the wall.  Not a problem.  I walked over to the window and looked in.  Noticing only two tracks going in the house, and none around but my own, I felt that my guess was safe.  Looking in the window again, I saw that the man had left.  Kendall sat crying in the corner.  Her mouth was gagged and she couldn’t move.  I didn’t know how long the man would be out of the room, so I tried to see if the window would open.  It didn’t, but Kendall saw me.  She stopped crying for an instant, but I think that she realized that if she stopped, the guy would find me for sure.

Looking around the building, I found a slant in some of the brick.  Working hard at digging the snow away, I was able to find the door to the cellar.  It was unlocked.  With painstaking quiet, I opened the cellar door.  Going inside, I made just as sure to shut it quietly too.  I looked around the cellar, and noticing that there was a generator for power, I walked over to it.  It was now about 10:00 AM.  You can imagine how tired I was.  I thought this my only hope.  I cut the staircase in two places, a trick I saw on MacGuyver, and picked up a big shovel.  I walked over to the generator, and stopped the motor.  I heard someone say something upstairs, and then some feet motion in my direction.  Getting behind the stairs, the door opened.  The man fell down, and I bashed him on the head.  Dragging him up the stairs, I brought him into the room in which I had seen Kendall.  I reached to untie her.  The knot was tied to a string which was tied to something else.  A bomb perhaps?

I tied the guy up in another chair.  I un-gagged Kendall, and went over to a chair.  “I’m so glad you showed up.”

“Thanks.”  I went to sit and said, “I better not sit down.”

“Why?”

“If I sit down, I might fall to sleep!”  I stood next to the guy, but he seemed out cold.  “Stay here.”  I said to Kendall.  She looked at me funny.  All right, so it wasn’t very funny.  I admit it.  I walked over into the kitchen.  Looking around, I found some smelling salts.  I walked over to the man and put them under his nose.  Well, they kept me awake.

He finally woke up.  “What is the wire to?”  I questioned him.

“Huh?  Wire?”  He asked groggily.  “Oh, that wire.  It is attached to nothing.”

“Nothing?!”

“Yes.  The boss just said to make sure to delay you here as long as possible.”

“The boss?”

“Yeah, you know, the guy who took Kendall in the first place.”  I walked over and untied Kendall.  She was feeling her wrists and neck.

“You don’t know how good that feels.”

“Believe me, sweetheart (with an accent), I do,” I said to Kendall.  Turning to the man, “I want to know everything you know about your boss and why I’m here.”

“Frankly, you’re nothing like the guy that he said would come out here, so I guess I could tell, if I were persuaded…”

“What would you like?”

“For starters, I’d like to be free of these ropes.”

“Okay.  But how do I know you won’t turn on me?”

“You trust me, I’ll trust you.”

“Okay, deal.”  I freed him.

“Now, after I have had a good lunch, I’ll tell you everything I know.”

“I’ll make the lunch,” said Kendall.  She went into the kitchen.

“You don’t look so good, sir…”

“Adam.”

“Adam.  If I were you, I’d get a little sleep.”

“I don’t need to sleep right now.”

We prepared to track Tricia and Tracy, and when the time came for them to leave; we were already at the Red River.  It was an interesting place.  Just being in a club made every muscle in my body remember what had happened in the last one.  As we were walking in the door of this one, a gentleman (here I use the term loosely) walked up behind the two of us.  “Hey doll.”  We stopped in our tracks.

Turning around, Kendall said to the man, “Yes, sir?”

“How about you and I get in my car and go over to my place.  I’m sure that we have a lot in common,” the man said.

“I’m sorry sir, but the young lady is with me,” I stated.

“Is that so?  Those two gentlemen behind you say that she is not.”  Oh no, not again, I thought.  “Gentleman, the young lady and I have a lot to discuss.”  The man grabbed a hold of Kendall’s arm and the five of us exited the building.  As we left we saw Tracy and Tricia enter the building.  The man took Kendall to his car, while the guys took me out back.  This was going to hurt.  One guy held me still while the other faced me.

“Guys, really, you don’t have to do this.”  I guess they were not going to listen to reason.  One of the guys swung his fist, and found my jaw.  Drops of blood now showed brilliantly on the snow.  I was not going to be so nice this time.  Seeing as these guys were in no way related to the DG, I could actually defend myself.  I stomped on the foot of the man who was holding me.  I also elbowed him in the gut.  The guy was going to punch me again.  I grabbed his hand, and went to flip him.  Just then I saw two figures coming out from the side of the building.

“Hold it right there,” said the one figure.  Although my eyes were swollen and tearing, I managed to figure out that at least one of the figures was that of a girl.  We all put our hands in the air.  “Tonia, call the police.”  The one voice said.  The figure came closer while the other went back inside.  Looking at my face, she could see the blood on my face.

“Miss.  I’m afraid you’ve got me wrong,” I said between gasps of breath.

“Have I?” asked the voice.

“I walked into the building and these two men and their boss took my girl and brought me out here.  I swear it is the truth.”

“And why should I believe you?  What do these others have to say?”

“It’s a lie,” the one said.

“He was picking a fight.”  The other said.  I decided that this was getting me nowhere.  Kicking the gun out of the girl’s hand, I quickly ran for my car and headed in the direction the man went with Kendall.  The only problem was that I had no clue where he could have possibly taken her, but those two guys would know.  I quickly hid my car off the road and waited for them to follow.  I thought that they would not be stupid enough to pass up a getaway like that.  I took the wet towel next to me and wiped off the blood and makeup and fixed my hair.  I saw two police cars go by and I figured that they were caught.

Leaving my safe haven, I followed the police cars to the station.  I parked across the street next to a coffee shop.  Walking inside, I went to the rest-room and changed my clothes, putting the bloody ones under the driver’s seat.  Walking inside the Police Station, I saw the two men and the two ladies.  Obviously they had come along to press charges.  “There were one more of them, officer,” one of the ladies said.

“Can you describe him?”  The officer asked.  Fortunately, those characteristics no longer described me.  The ladies left and I went up to the officer.  Asking to meet with him privately, we went into an officer.  “What seems to be the problem?”

“Well, sir.  I’m your man.”

“Huh?”

“The guy the ladies described, I’m him.”

“What, are you crazy?  You want to go to jail?”

“Let me explain.  I’m a private detective.  Here’s my card.  You can check it with the Sergeant at Nanopolis Police HQ.  I’m on a case involving the Glowing Gem.  I believe the crooks may be here.  I was investigating a Club with an associate of mine, one ‘Kendall Lisowski,’ and — “

“Just wait a second.  You don’t look anything like the man they described!”

“I know.  I’m a detective.  Anyway, so I went to the club when these three guys came up to me and took Kendall and me outside.   I was to be beaten up and she was taken somewhere.  I need to locate her.”

“I can’t file a missing persons report for another,” he said taking a look at his watch, “forty-six hours and thirty minutes.”

“Not necessary, sir.  I don’t think that he would have gone too far without his goons.”

“What do you have in mind?”

“I suggest that we let them have their one call.  Trace it to see if you can find out where their boss is.”

“All right.  But first, I’m calling Nanopolis PD to see if your story checks out.”

It took an hour for the officer to check on my credentials and another to set the tap up.  By the end of the time, however, we were ready.  The two goons called their boss, and I was off.  The place they made the call to was a long distance off.  It took me a good deal of time to get there.  I was driving late into the night.  In fact, it may have been morning before I discovered the car of the captor.  I looked inside it and found her purse.  Looking around, I saw that the road had stopped.  A pair of tracks went off to the east, but I could not tell if either of the tracks were Kendall’s.  I put on some snow shoes that I found in the trunk of the car.  Walking in that direction, I realized how cold Wisconsin can truly get.