Discovery.

    It had been a week since the party.  Everything seemed to be  
normal again.  Bob had called Luke, and told what happened with Kim.
She had lied about herself, as expected, and she told them all not to
worry about the threat.  Luke had nearly forgot about that, until Bob
reminded him.

    Luke made his way for the door.  He was the last to leave this 
Friday.  He drove the uneventful drive to work, where he was quite 
surprised to find his desk was packed in a brown cardboard box.  He
went to find his supervisor.

    "Hey, Rich, why's my desk packed?"

    "Luke, I'm sorry, but at this time, your services are no longer 
needed.  This came from corporate, so there's nothing I can do. I 
tried to keep it from happening, but..."

    "That's it.  I'm fired?"

    "Yes.  You have 1 hour to get your things and go.  After that, you
are to be arrested for trespassing."

    "Who can I call to get this worked out?"

    "Luke, there's nothing you can do.  You have to go.  Now."

    "Bullshit!  You can't just fire me."  Luke stormed away to his 
desk.  He picked up his phone, and called Maria at the corporate 
office.

    "Hello.  Maria speaking."

    "Hi.  This is Luke Lindsey.  I'm trying to find out why I 
was terminated without cause."

    "I'm sorry Mr. Lindsey, but that decision came from the 
President of LME.  There's nothing I can do, and I was advised to
tell you to leave the office immediately."

    Luke hung up the phone.  He grabbed his box, and made his way 
to the exit.  On the way out, he passed Rich.  "I'll be back."

    "Luke, I hope you are.  I don't want to lose you.  The team 
will suffer."

    Luke returned home, but fed up, he stopped at 7-11 for a pack 
of cigarettes.  He hadn't smoked in years, but the stress was 
too much.

    "Pack of Marlboros, please," He told the clerk.

    He then tried to pay with a credit card, but that was 
declined.  He ended up paying with the last ten in his wallet.

    Figuring he now had no credit or cash, he prudently made his 
way to the bank.  He tried to withdraw $300 from his account, but 
found that he now had $3.13 in the account, yet he knew that he 
had well over $5,000 in the checking account.  He then tried to 
get cash from his saving, worth over $30,000, but it too had been
cleaned out.

    With no cash, credit, or saving left, he made his way home.  
Disaster followed him everywhere today. When he arrived, he found 
a foreclosure notice posted on the door.  He had paid every single 
payment on time, and several of them early. He was about 5 months
ahead on the mortgage.  

    Luke read the notice carefully.  Typically legalese, but he 
couldn't find an actual reason for foreclosure. Then he noticed an
envelope halfway under the door.  Still standing on the porch, he 
retrieved the envelope and read it contents:

      Dear Luke,
         I told you.  I told you you'd pay for fucking my 
      girlfriend, you fucking dipshit.  I hope you like
      your new life, you fucking girlyboy.
         Just so you know, it helps to have friends in 
      useful places.

                           Yours truly,
                           Doug.

    Luke raced inside to use the phone.  He picked up the 
receiver, and started pounding keys.  He had dialed 9 of the 10 
digits in Bob's number before he realized that the phone was dead.

    He then moved back to his car, and furiously drove towards 
Bob's house.  With any luck, either Bob or Debbie would be home.

    Jackpot.  Bob was home.

    BANG! BANG!  Luke pounded on the door.  BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Bob came to the door.  "Luke.  Whatsa matter?"

    "Bob, I need Kim's address."

    "Come on in.  Why?"

    "Damn it, I can't explain right now.  I just need it."

    "Okay, Okay.  Let me go get it." Bob turned away to find the
requested information, as Luke tentatively waited, still outside.

    Bob returned with his address book and a pad of paper.  He 
scribbled down the address, and handed to paper to Luke.

    Luke ripped the paper out of Bob's hand and ran towards his 
car, shouting out a thanks as he left.

    Luke studied the address.  11280 Ryan Drive, Bowie MD.  "Only 
twenty minutes away," he thought to himself as he drove wildly and 
recklessly to the house.  Thoughts raced through his head, 
wondering what he would find or do.  Was this Kim's place, or did 
she live with Doug.  Who would he find?  What would he say?  What 
would he do?  All of the questions still remained unanswered when
he entered the development.  He found Ryan Drive quickly, and soon
found 11280.  He pulled into the driveway, and parked the car.

    He carefully studied the house, trying to gain insight into 
what he should do from the building.  It was surrounded by pines on 
all sides, and it occupied at least three acres of land.  Every 
other house in the area was luck to have half an acre.  The house
was huge, having a giant footprint and 2 and a half stories.  It 
looked like it had a full basement as well.

    From the house he gathered that Kim and Doug must live 
together, and they must have a large sum of money to afford the 
house.  He guessed the list price to be around $800,000.  He used
his guesses to form a plan.  He would knock, then confront Doug 
if he answered. If Kim answered, he would demand to see Doug.  
Simple enough, he thought.

    Luke walked up the 5 steps leading to the front door, and 
pounded away.  Without any pause at all, Doug opened the door.

    "I've been expecting you, Luke."

    "What the fuck did you do to me?"

    "I fucked you, just like you fucked Kim, pussy."

    Luke punched Doug squarely in the the jaw, loosening teeth.

    "Have it your way, pussy." And then, Russel moved forward and 
tackled Luke, knocking him down all five of the brick-and-mortar 
stairs leading to the door.  Luke struggled, but was quickly 
subdued by Russel and Doug.  He then felt a prick in his leg.

    "Uuugh.  Wha... Where... Uuugh."

    "Hey Doug!  He's waking up."

    "Huh... Uuuugh... Who's...."

    WHACK! Russel slapped Doug across the face.  Doug tried to 
react, but found himself firmly tied to a chair.

    "Speak English, you fuckin' pussy."

    "That's enough, Russel.  I'll take car of things from here."

    "Huh... Wha did.... Wha ha.. ha... happened?"

    "Luke, Luke, Luke.  You don't get it, do you?  I told you. You 
knew this was going to happen.  You're gonna pay me back for 
fucking my girlfriend."

    "Huuuh?  H.. H.. How did y.. y.. you?

    "Okay, that's a fair question.  I found Kim's emails to Bob, 
so I knew where to find her.  I wrote down all the plates at the 
party, before I got her.  I was planning on getting revenge on 
everyone there, but...  When I saw you, all dressed up, I decided
I would focus my attention on you, pussy.  My brother works at the
DMV.  I just had him pull records for all the cars, and then match
photos with everyone. As for your money, I work at the bank.  In 
fact, I cleaned out your accounts, and foreclosed myself.  Being a
quite successful VP has its perks."

    "You can't...  get away.... wi... with... this."

    "Ah, but I have.  Between myself, my brother, and Russel, you 
no longer exist, on paper anyway.  And as for your girls, well..."

    Russel pulled off the blindfold that had been keeping Luke in 
the dark.

    "No... No...  Don't..."

    "Don't worry.  They're just sedated, too.  We can't have them 
going to a foreclosed house, now can we."

    "What are you... What will you do...  What will you do to us?"

    "I'm a generous man, and Kate and Julie still have their jobs. 
I own the place next door, also.  They will live there.  You will
live here, and you will do as I say unless you want to die."

    Luke spit at his captor.

    "Feisty one, eh?"  Doug nodded to Russel, who hit Luke with 
the hot end of a cattle prod.

    "You will break.  You will."  With that Luke felt another 
prick in his leg, and he was out cold in a matter of seconds.

    Luke again awoke, this time to find Julie standing over him.  
She was freed from her bounds, and Luke found himself free 
as well.

    "We're free..." Luke managed to mutter.

    "Not quiet.  We're still locked in here.  And Kate's 
still out."

    "Are ... you ... okay?"

    "Yeah.  I'm fine.  I think he gave us smaller doses of the 
drug. I was kidnapped on my way to work.  I imagine the same 
happened to Kate."

    "How long?"

    "Its Saturday, now, about 2:00 pm.  I don't know when you got 
here."

    "Huh... Wha... Where... am... I?"  Kate was beginning to wake.

    Luke tried to rush to Kate, but stumbled as the effects of the 
drugs were still quite strong in his body. Julie caught him before
he hit the ground.

    "Slow down Luke. You're still pretty weak."

    "Kate... Kate... are you okay?" Luke managed to mutter as he 
tramped his way towards her.

    "Uuuugh. What happened?"

    Julie began to explain.  "We were kidnapped, but I don't know
who did it."

    "Doug," Luke said.

    "What?" Julie asked, perplexed by Luke's comment.

    "Doug.  Kim's boyfriend.  From Bob's party.  Doug kidnapped 
us.  Our house is gone, our money is gone."

    "What are we going to do?" Kate asked.

    "Why did he do this?" Julie asked.

    "I don't know.  I don't know.  He said he would take care of 
us, but we were trapped.  I can't remember much..."  And then
Luke fell over, weak.

    Kate moved to lift him back up, but Julie intervened. "We 
better let him rest some more."  Kate moved a blanket to cover 
him, and the three laid back down to rest, hoping the effects of
the drugs would wear off quickly.