Chapter 15: Rescue (D)

I got home in record time, and found that Sarah was already there, talking on the phone to someone. When she saw me, she gave me a reassuring squeeze of the hand, then went back to the phone. I found my way in to the kitchen, to find mum making tea. She handed me a cuppa, giving me a worried look. I took a drink of tea, and feeling a bit better, told mum what Officer Williams had said.

"Don't worry too much Dear. Everyone is working on finding her and getting her back safe," Mum tried to reassure me.

I tried to give her a smile. I could tell she was just as worried about Mort as me. We hadn't known her very long, but she had become someone I cared about. After hearing what had happened to her at her family's hand the last time on impulse, I dreaded to think what the nutters had in store for her now they'd had time to prepare.

I shrugged off the images in my head. Dwelling on such things would do me no good. At this point, Sarah walked in. "I've been speaking with the police. The registration on that van came back to a rental company, who show it being loaned to Mort's father, so we are sure that's who took her. Since their telepath has already reported witnessing what happened psychicly, with Anna's testimony from before, it is enough for us to act. We have been negotiating for a protective order so we can take Mort away from her parents," she said.

"That's great, and all but we still don't know where she is," I protested.

"Yes and no. They were able to partially track the van through the town centre's CCTV network, but once it moved outside that, they lost it. Hopefully, that won't be a problem for much longer. I've called in some favours and a friend of Anna's is going to help us. He is a tracker, a very specialised telepath who can locate people. given a mental impression of them. Officer Williams is coming along to provide that. so we can locate Mort."

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get going," I said.

"Calm down, Dot" Mum said.

"Sorry, Mum, I just don't want Mort in their hands any longer than possible," I said.

"Officer Williams is on her way with some police backup, and Anna is going to fetch the tracker. They will both meet us here, and then we can go after Mort. I'll be coming along in case she needs any medical care," Sarah said.

As we sat in the kitchen, I tried to keep still, but the nervous energy in me due to inaction made me pace about.

"Dorothy, you'll wear the floors out!" Mum smiled. "Please, sit down, and drink your tea."

I gave her a weak smile and tried to relax. A few minutes later there was a knock at the door. Mum went to see who it was, and few moments later Officer Williams walked into the kitchen with another policeman at her side, whom she introduced as Officer Steven Higgins.

After greetings were exchanged and tea offered, we sat down to wait for the others to arrive. Officer Williams turned to me and said, "I'm sorry about what's happened to your friend. If I'd had any idea she was in this kind of danger, I would have done more to make sure she was safe. As it is, I still feel having seen what happened, I should have done more than just take a statement."

"That's OK. I don't think anyone had any idea that something like this might happen." I replied.

We all waited quietly until all of a sudden, Sarah jerked upright in her seat. "Anna's outside." We all jumped up and were out the door.

Anna was waiting by her car with a small Asian man. "Officer Williams this is Henry Tong" Anna said.

"Pleased to meet you, Officer. I understand you have an impression for me. Anna could have given it to me, but since this is official, I wanted to make sure it was all aboveboard." Henry said with a smile.