71: Monday

The next morning, Alex woke to darkness and lay there, staring at the ceiling, reviewing his tour for the day, mentally going down a list, making sure he hadn’t forgotten anything. He heard Derek stir and closed his eyes, deciding to let his roommate ‘wake’ him, which he did. Opening his eyes he saw Derek grinning at him.

"Time to hustle," he said. "The day’s awasting."

Alex just nodded and climbed out of bed, joining Derek as he headed for the showers. After dressing, they made their way to the cafeteria, joining the line where they found the three ellyn already there. Alex, much to the surprise of the others had a full breakfast, rather than the toast and juice that most of the others who were testing that day were managing. He gave them a wry look.

"Rule number one when in the field: never pass up a good meal, as it may be your last," he said as he ate his oatmeal. "And while I don’t anticipate dying during this tour, I do want to not be fainting from nerves and lack of food. I bet you were starving long before lunch," he added, giving Derek a shrewd look. Derek nodded but did not otherwise comment.

When they joined the other students in the foyer, they found Vorondur there, standing under the ‘G-L’ sign. He gave them all a warm smile. "So, here is the day at last. Alex, you’re with the Northern Lights Holiday Resort." He looked out the main doors and frowned. "Hmm... the van should be out there by now... oh, there it is." He pointed and they saw a van with the resort logo painted on it just coming into the drive. "Good luck and have fun," he added and the five of them headed out the door and made their way to the van.

"How about Cal and Alan and I going with you as far as the hall?" Derek said. "We can do some shopping, have some lunch and take in a movie or something while we wait for your return."

Alex shrugged. "Fine by me."

As they reached the van, the side door opened and a man greeted them. "All set?" he asked.

"Yeah... um... my friends are going with us," Alex said as he climbed into the van.

The man gave him a dubious look. "It’s going to be pretty crowded."

"Oh, Cal, Alan and I are only going as far as the Grange Hall," Derek assured him. "Lawrence will be joining Alex on the tour. We were told it was okay."

The man nodded somewhat reluctantly, stealing a glance at the driver who shrugged. "Okay, hop in," he finally said and soon they were all settled and the van set off.

Neither Alex nor Derek really paid much attention to their route. Derek was frowning somewhat, feeling something wasn’t quite right, for at no time did the man sitting with them ever introduce himself or talk about the upcoming tour. He recalled how Rebecca had gone over the tour with him as they had headed for the hall to pick up their family, so he was somewhat upset that this man was not doing the same for his gwador.

Alex, for his part, was still concentrating on the tour plan, rehearsing his lines for when he met with the family, and not knowing any differently, did not find it odd that the man from the resort did not speak with him.

It was Calandil, though, that alerted the two Mortals that something was amiss when he exclaimed, "We are not going to the Grange Hall."

Alex looked up in surprise and took a quick look out the side window and realized that the Elf was correct. He saw that they had passed the intersection with Orion and they should have turned right at that point but, instead, their van was continuing straight on Aurora.

"Hey! We’re going the wrong way," he cried out, turning around to face the man from the resort, then raising an eyebrow in surprise as he found a gun pointed at him.

"No, Mr. Merriweather, we are not," the man said calmly. "And please, don’t do anything stupid, any of you. Just sit back and enjoy the ride."

Derek sat there in shock at the sight of the gun and, glancing at the three Elves, he saw that they were equally shocked. Findalaurë even had his eyes closed and then the other two also closed their eyes. Derek assumed that they found the sight of the gun too distasteful to look at. He glanced at Alex and saw his gwador giving him a small shake of his head as he leaned back in his seat, looking very calm about it all, as if being held at gunpoint was nothing new for him — and it probably wasn’t, he reflected sourly. Yet, while the van continued on its way, Derek had the distinct impression that he was no longer looking at Alex, at his gwador, but at Artemus, and oddly enough, that comforted him somewhat and he, too, leaned back in his seat, attempting to appear calm as well, though he was anything but.

****

Glorfindel looked around the Grange Hall. There were still a number of people there, but they were actually friends of the students and families who were going on the tours that day; all the tour groups had come and gone. Then, he spied a family of five, the three children quite young, standing rather forlornly, looking about. He went to them.

"Were you supposed to go on a tour today?" he asked, looking at the children’s father. "I’m Loren DelaFiore, the head administrator for Elf Academy." He held out his hand for the man to shake.

"Jim Palmer," the man said by way of introduction. "My wife, Kelly, and our kids, Shelly, Gavin and Lucy. Yeah, we’re scheduled for the tour today, but no one’s come to claim us."

"Let me check and see who your Elf Guide is," Glorfindel said and wandered over to where Barahir and Gilvegil were sitting, going over the list of students to make sure they had gotten them all. They looked up as Glorfindel approached them. "The Palmer family. Who is supposed to be their Elf Guide?"

The two ellyn glanced over their list. "Palmer... Palmer," Barahir muttered. "Here they are. Hmmm... according to this, Alex Grant is their Elf Guide, but he never checked in. One of the other students, Rachel Johnson, also has not checked in."

"Wait. I thought I saw a note about Rachel," Gilvegil said, rifling through some papers, pulling one of them out. "Yes, here it is. This is a note from Holly. Rachel called in last night, saying she was running a fever and feared she might be coming down with something, so she asked if she could switch with her roommate who’s doing her tour after Thanksgiving. Holly gave her permission, so Debby Callahan has taken her place."

"To which resort was Alex assigned?" Glorfindel asked.

Barahir looked at his list again. "Northern Lights."

Glorfindel nodded even as he was fishing out his phone. In seconds he was speaking to Vorondur. "Alex never showed up here," he said. "Did you see him?" He listened for a moment, his expression becoming grim. "Okay. Do me a favor and contact Dave Michaelson, see if there’s been an accident involving a Northern Lights Resort van. I haven’t heard any sirens but that might not mean anything. I’m going to contact Marty and see what’s up there."

Even as he was saying this, though, Barahir was already on his own phone, speaking with the owner of the resort. "That’s right, Marty, we know the van arrived at the Academy and picked up the student but they never arrived here." He listened for a few seconds, then his eyes widened. "You sure about that? Are they okay?.... Yes, I’ll tell him.... Thanks, Marty. We’ll keep you informed." He closed down his phone and gave them a grave look. "Marty says one of the other employees was in the garage checking over the vans, making sure they were in good running condition, when he heard banging. When he went to investigate, he discovered two people shoved into a storage room, bound and gagged. They were the driver and the tour assessor who’d been assigned to Alex’s tour."

Now Glorfindel paled. "Farrell," he hissed and the other two didn’t contradict him. "And Ron says that Derek and the three amigos went with Alex. Finda was planning to go with Alex on the tour but the other three were planning to stop here."

Before the other two could comment they heard the plaintive voice of one of the Palmer children.

"Mommy, are we gonna see Santa? I wanna see Santa."

Glorfindel glanced over at the family to see the mother hushing the child, the youngest, who looked to be about five. He waved them over. "We think something may have happened to the van," he said softly. "We are checking to see if there’s been an accident. I fear you will not be able to do the tour today, but I promise we will reschedule you once we’ve learned what has happened to our student."

"Oh dear," Kelly said, giving him a sympathetic look. "I do hope no one has been hurt."

Glorfindel silently prayed the same, struggling to remain calm and assured. "I know this is a disappointment for you, especially for your children."

"Hey, it can’t be helped," Jim said philosophically, then sighed. "I took the day off from work for this. Not sure what to do now."

"It is still early yet," Glorfindel said. "Perhaps you can return to work. I’m sure when you explain what has happened, your boss will let you reschedule your day off unless we end up having you take the tour on the weekend."

"Yeah, I can do that," Jim said with a nod, then turned to his wife. "What about you and the kids? Should I drop you home?"

"No, we’ll stay in town," she said. "I’ll take them Christmas shopping and we’ll have lunch and take in a movie. You want to pick us up when you get out of work? We’ll wait for you in the town square."

"That’s a long day out, though," Jim replied, looking dubiously at the children who were already fidgeting.

"Why don’t you do as you suggested," Glorfindel said, "and when you are ready to return home, call this number and one of us will come and pick you up." He pulled out a business card from his wallet and, taking a pen and circling a number on the card, handed it to the woman.

"Are you sure?" she asked hesitantly.

"It’s the least we can do," Glorfindel assured her and with that, the family made their farewells and left, the children pestering their parents about what was happening and why couldn’t they see Santa.

Glorfindel tuned them out as he turned back to Barahir and Gilvegil. "We need to find them," he said.

"Where do we even begin to look?" Gilvegil countered. "They could be anywhere."

"But it’s a distinctive van with the resort logo on it," Barahir pointed out. "We might find people who were out and noticed the van. Maybe the police or the sheriff’s department can check to see if anyone saw it."

"They would have had to take Aurora out of the campus, regardless of which direction they ultimately took," Glorfindel said. "Let’s assume that they initially took the route to here to allay any misgivings on Alex’s part. Where could they have veered off?"

"Let’s see," Barahir said. "If they stayed on Aurora to Orion, they could have either continued straight or turned left rather than turning right to come here. But if they turned left, it would only take them to the park and there are no other streets that they could’ve taken. If they continued on Aurora, there would be any number of side streets for them to take. It all depends on what their ultimate destination is. Do you think they would remain in Wiseman or go elsewhere?"

"That’s what we need to determine," Glorfindel said. "Call Ron and see what he’s learned from Dave. I’m going to...."

But what he planned to say they never learned for just then the Grange Hall doors opened and they saw Finrod entering with Beleg, Vardamir, Valandur, Laurendil, the two Legolases and most of the other Valinórean Elves, at least the warriors, right behind him. Finrod’s expression was very grim.

"They have been kidnapped," he said without preamble.

Glorfindel raised an eyebrow. "I was just about to call you," he said.

"I have heard from Finda," Finrod replied.

"Could he tell you where they were going?" Glorfindel asked, accepting his gwador’s words. As powerful as he was with his ability to use ósanwë, he knew Finrod was even more so and did not question that he and his son had been in contact.

Finrod shook his head. "The image was not clear, and I only know that they appeared to be heading away from this town."

"Which direction?" Glorfindel asked, but before Finrod could reply, there was the sound of sirens becoming louder and then falling silent. A minute later, Dave Michaelson was entering the hall, along with Carl Graff and several other police officers, all of them making their way to where the Elves were.

"I heard from Ron," Dave said without preamble. "I checked with dispatch and with the fire department and no accident has been reported in the last hour."

"And there wouldn’t be," Glorfindel said. "We talked with Marty over at Northern Lights. Two of his employees were found bound and gagged and one of the vans is missing. We know it arrived at the Academy and it picked up the student assigned to it, along with some others who were planning to get off here, but that is all we know for sure. We were hoping your people might canvas the town and see if anyone noticed the van."

"I can do that, but it’ll take time," Dave said. "Does this have anything to do with the trouble you’ve been having at the Academy, trouble you refuse to talk about to us?" He nodded at the sheriff, including him in the discussion.

Glorfindel sighed. "Yes, it does. The student’s name is Alex Grant. He, I suspect, is the target for the kidnapping." Both Dave and Carl raised disbelieving eyebrows at that, but before either could comment, Glorfindel continued. "That’s not necessarily the worst of it. Alex’s roommate, Derek Lowell, as well as three Elves were also in the missing van."

Dave stole a look at all the Elves gathered around them. "Any three Elves in particular?" he asked Glorfindel.

"My son," Finrod answered grimly, "and the great-grandsons of my royal cousin and my liegeman." He nodded to Laurendil.

"Oh, that’s just great," Dave muttered. "Okay, I think it’s time you came clean about what the hell is going on here," he exclaimed to Loren, giving him an angry look.

"I must look for my son," Finrod said.

"And do you know where to look?" Carl asked.

"I know in which direction to look," Finrod replied, "but as I am unfamiliar with this area, I have no idea where to go."

"We’ll figure it out later," Dave said shortly. "Right now, I need to know what’s going on so I can coordinate things. If there has been a kidnapping...."

"Hey, anyone see Zach?"

They all turned around to see Jud, Shane and Lily coming toward them.

"What do you mean?" Glorfindel asked, already dreading the answer.

"He left our place two hours ago, said he was coming over here to help out," Jud said. "I told him I would join him after my doctor’s appointment. I met Shane and Lily along the way."

"Zach was never here," Gilvegil said quietly.

"Was he walking or driving?" Dave asked them.

"Walking," Jud replied. "He said he needed the exercise. So what’s up? Why are you all here anyway? Has something happened?"

Glorfindel sighed, closing his eyes. "Perhaps I should start at the beginning," he finally said, opening his eyes.

"Yes, please do," Dave said somewhat sardonically.

Glorfindel nodded, giving them all a grim look. "It started with someone taking our photos and sending them to a particular agency in Washington, D. C and then....."

****

When he had finished his tale, giving them just the bare bones, the Mortals just stared at him in disbelief.

"Spies?" Carl Graff finally exclaimed. "You’re telling us that we’ve been infiltrated by spies and this Alex Grant is one of them?"

"Yes," Glorfindel said bluntly, "and I fear that a rogue agent is responsible for the kidnappings, assuming Zach is a victim as well."

"But why would they kidnap Zach?" Lily asked.

"I don’t know, unless it was as surety to make sure Alex would cooperate with them with whatever they have planned," Glorfindel replied. Then he thought of something, turning to Finrod. "Where’s Amroth?"

"He was at Edhellond when we left," Finrod answered, "speaking to his wife, warning her to be extra vigilant. He said he would join us later once he was assured that the rest of the Academy was well protected."

Glorfindel turned to Barahir. "Call him and tell him to stay put wherever he happens to be and find out where Daeron is."

The other Elf nodded and started speed dialing his phone even as Glorfindel turned his attention back to Finrod. "You said you know in which direction the van is heading."

"It has been shifting but now it appears they are heading in a southernly direction."

"How far can you be and still be in contact with Finda?" Glorfindel asked.

"The farthest I have ever attempted such contact has been under a league. Already the connection is fading though I can sense through our bond that no harm has come to my son as yet."

"If they’ve traveled more than three miles, they must’ve left Wiseman," Dave offered. "Going south? They can only be on the main highway, heading for Fairbanks."

"Or anywhere along the way," Glorfindel said grimly. He glanced at Valandur and Laurendil. "What about you two? Are you able to sense Calandil and Elennen?"

Both ellyn shook their heads. "Not really," Valandur said, "but I get the impression that they have somehow joined their thoughts with Finda. I can only assume that is why Finrod can still sense them, as far away as they must be by now."

"That would make sense," Finrod said with a nod. "I wondered why I could sense my son’s thoughts as clearly as I have been able to, but distance is the key and even with the aid of his gwedyr, our connection is weakening with every minute."

"Then we have no time to lose," Glorfindel said. "Dave, can you and Carl alert the authorities as far as Fairbanks, see if the van can be spotted along the way? Warn them not to interfere with the van but keep you posted as to where it is going and where it stops."

Both Men nodded. "We can put out an APB," Dave said. "I’ll call the resort and find out what the tags are so the van can be better traced."

"Good," Glorfindel said. "And as soon as we have a possible location, we’ll set off to rescue the children."

"You?" Carl demanded. "Don’t you think you should let us handle it? We can have a SWAT team on board in a matter of minutes. Let them deal with the kidnappers. It’s what they get paid to do."

"These are not ordinary kidnappers, Carl," Glorfindel said with a shake of his head. "These are trained government agents who apparently have gone rogue, but at any rate, they are highly dangerous and having a SWAT team come charging in could easily bring about the deaths of the victims. You let us handle this. We can approach their hideaway without them even knowing we are there. It’ll be safer that way."

Both Dave and Carl looked decidedly unhappy about it, but in the end, they agreed to Glorfindel’s plan. Glorfindel glanced at Finrod and gave him a wry look. "I really hate this part," was all he said. Finrod merely nodded, knowing what his gwador meant, still concentrating on keeping a somewhat tenuous hold on his son’s thoughts, mentally reviewing all he would do to the kidnappers when they caught up with them.

****

Ósanwë: (Quenya) Thought-sending, i.e. telepathy.