WARNING: THIS STORY CONTAINS STRONG LANGUAGE. If you are offended by such please don’t read those particular words.

Sarah lay in bed, memorizing every crack and flaw in the ceiling above her. Her body was tired but her mind was still reeling. She understood Trent’s hurt but she knew she was right. Even if Trent wasn’t going to do anything, she was.

Quietly, so as not to wake the slumbering Carlos beside her, she moved the covers and slipped out of bed. She walked to the kitchen, intending to make herself a cup of tea. Ah tea, her comfort food of choice. She smiled at the thought of her youth, when all the Baker women would sit around a kitchen table, solving all the worlds’ problems with a pot of tea. As she plugged in the kettle her eyes were drawn to the computer once again. Somehow she knew that it held the key to finding Jessie.

Sitting down, she tried to logon. A sentence flashed at her…LOGIN ALREADY IN USE. Jessie! Quickly she logged on as herself, using her friend list to find out where Jessie was. Before she could type anything, she noted an exchange in a chat room.

psychmd: WHO ARE YOU??

Jessiemc: who wants to know?

psychmd: I KNOW YOU AREN’T WHO YOU PRETEND TO BE

Jessiemc: says who?

psychmd: nice try malloy, but she’s with me now. she ditched your sorry ass

Jessiemc: that’s what you would like me to believe, isn’t it? If it’s true have her call me

and tell me herself. Then I’ll believe it.

Trent! He had believed Sarah after all!!

psychmd: do you believe this? it wasn’t your name she was screaming when we were

Jessiemc: Nice try Rob but I still want to hear it from her lips. Where is she?

psychmd: maybe in due time malloy. when she’s ready.

Jessiemc: when she’s ready? Or when you’re ready? If you do anything to hurt her you

will be sorry

psychmd: afraid of losing another one?

Jessiemc: what’s that supposed to mean?

psychmd: did i touch a nerve? i know all about the great storied trent malloy, detective

Sarah held her breath. Could it be Roger? There was a delay in the response. Finally she typed

Canadianpetvet: Don’t let him get you down Trent!!

psychmd: WHO THE HELL ARE YOU??

Jessiemc: nobody. Why don’t you try me? You’ll find just how shit hot I am

There was a delay as no one typed. It seemed to drag on forever before an answer appeared. The tension seemed palpable to Sarah. Finally, a sentence appeared.

psychmd: okay…i had something special in mind for our mutual friend and you’ll never

The next line told them psychmd had logged off. She typed:

Canadianpetvet: you okay, T? Do you think it’s Roger?

Jessiemc: I don’t know if he is this smart. Good night, Sarah.

Sarah sat in the silence as she saw that Jessiemc had logged off. She reached for the phone, stopping before dialing. Maybe it was best he was left alone.

**

Trent sat in front of the computer, seeing those written words. Yes, he had been responsible. How could this guy have known that? Was it Roger Peterson, his wife’s ex-husband and the man responsible for putting the bullet in his back? Could he have made it back to Dallas? Or could he have taken Jessie somewhere else? He looked at the clock. 3:22 am. The next few hours would seem like the longest of his life. One thing he knew for sure…Sarah was right and Jessie was in trouble.

**

Trent was looking out the window of his office, his thoughts a million miles away, when Carlos and Sarah entered.

"Anything yet?" Sarah asked breathlessly, startling Trent back to reality.

"No," he mumbled before turning back to the window

Sarah went and gently placed a hand on his shoulder. "We’ll find her, T. She’ll be okay."

It took him a minute before he realized that she had used the nickname her sister had given him what seemed like an eternity ago. Somehow, it seemed right coming from her. He tried to smile. "Thanks, Sarah."

"Can we trace this guy’s email or something?" Carlos asked.

" I already called Jimmy." Jimmy Trivette was a Texas Ranger and an experienced computer hacker. If you wanted anything done with a computer, he was the man to ask. "He said they probably could trace it but this guy would be too smart to leave anything of use. If he planted those emails, he knows his way around the computer. But Jimmy will take a look when he can."

A quiet beep sounded and they all turned towards the computer. An icon was flashing…’You’ve got mail’. For a moment, no one moved. Then finally, Trent reached out for the mouse and clicked the icon.

An email popped up, containing only a site address. Trent clicked on it.

After taking a few seconds to load, the trio was left looking at a screen announcing the site as ‘PSYCHO 101…The Internet’s first LIVE psychology experiment!!!" A disembodied voice announced, "Welcome one and all to our experiment. Let me show you around. First," A window popped up in the right upper corner. "you can vote on what experiments you would like to perform on our subject. Remember, the sky is the limit." Secondly," Another window, this one in the right lower corner. "Please feel free to leave your comments about this site here. And thirdly," A final window opened in the upper left corner. "To view real-time live video of our subject, click here."

None of the three could speak as they feared the worse. Trent, feeling a sense of dread rising from the pit of his stomach, moved the mouse to the upper left corner and clicked. Nothing happened. He clicked again and this time an instant message appeared. "hello, malloy. welcome to my site. are you ready?" Trent’s heart leapt into his mouth, his mind trying to make sense of what he was seeing. Slowly, an image appeared on the screen. As it loaded, it became apparent they were looking at a form, handcuffed to a ring set in the wall, blindfolded. Even without the Dallas Mustang sweatshirt they knew her immediately. Bruises covered her face.

"Jesus! Jessie," Trent muttered angrily. The instant message appeared again. "If you want to talk to her, click on the button, malloy."

"JESSIE," Trent yelled as he clicked the button. Her head snapped up as she recognized the voice.

"TRENT! Help me!!" Jessie began to struggle against her bonds, yelling Trent’s name.

"JESSIE! Hold on, Babe! We’ll find you, I promise Jess…" His words were cut off, eliciting screams from Jessie.

"TRENT! TRENT! PLEASE DON"T LEAVE ME!! TRENT!!!" The volume died down but it was obvious from the video that Jessie was hysterical.

"Well now, malloy, you have 3 days."

Trent couldn’t control his anger as he watched Jessie struggle helplessly, his own helplessness taking over. "YOU SICK FUCK! WHO ARE YOU?!?"

"Good-bye malloy." The voice was gone.

As Carlos and Sarah stared helplessly at the screen, a primal scream erupted from Trent. Turning, he slammed his left fist against the solid brick wall of his office. So great was his frustration, he didn’t even feel the bones of his third and forth metacarpals snapping like dry twigs.