After calling the police, Gael called his veterinarian. Sam said he'd be out right away to look at Charlie. Next, he called the house and told them to have supper without him. Anne had answered, and he asked her to put Irene on, not wanting to tell his foster daughter about Marissa being gone. “What is it Gael?” Irene asked as she took the phone.

“Rissa's missing, Reenie.” “Reenie” was his pet name for his wife - it was a derivative of Irene.

“What do you mean 'missing'?” Irene felt a sense of dread.

“I can't find her. Her crutches are by Charlie's pasture and the steer is off, he's staggering. Sam's on his way and so are the police.”

“Oh, God, Gael. If she's been taken by the Cartel....”

“Let's pray that she hasn't and that she is okay.”

Sam arrived and took a blood sample from Charlie. The steer was better but still a little unsteady on his feet. “It looks like he might have been drugged”, the vet said. “Maybe to stop him from trying to protect Marissa. The last time they tried something, Charlie sent one of them flying. I'll send this to the lab and put a rush on the results. Keep him in the barn tonight so that he doesn't hurt himself stumbling around.”

The police looked around and took a bunch of pictures. They found tire tracks leading from the pasture area down the old laneway that was no longer used. One of them said the forensics unit would be out in the morning to take plaster casts of the tracks. There was no rain in the forecast, so it could wait, he didn't have to call the unit in. Being a small detachment, there was only one shift of forensics people.

Later that night when they had gone to bed, Irene cried into Gael's chest. “I can't go through this again! What will they do to her? She left the Cartel, they kill for that.”

“We will get through it, Reenie. We'll say a prayer every day that Rissa comes back to us alive and well.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Braxton walked to the university Tuesday morning, as he usually did when it wasn't too hot. He hadn't slept well the last few nights. His instincts were telling him that Marissa was in trouble. He and Amber had gotten in late the night before so he hadn't had a chance to call Gael Brennan.

When he dropped her off at her place, he had told Amber that he didn't think things were going to work out with them. “It's nothing personal”, he'd said to her. “But you just aren't my normal type.” She had thrown a fit, and he'd tried to calm her down but he realized it was futile and eventually he left. She called his cell and he asked her not to call him again, then blocked her number when she did. So far, she hadn't called his house phone.

Arriving in his office, he hung up his jacket and put his bagged lunch in his desk before reaching for his office phone to check his voice mail. His heart skipped a beat when he listened to the message from the woman at the APA telling him to call a Chris Holden regarding a Marissa Brennan. Braxton didn't even listen to the rest of his messages, he hung up and googled the area code from the number that was given and found out it was from Alberta, Canada. With a trembling hand, he dialed the number. It was answered on the third ring.

“Hello, is this Chris Holden?”, he asked.

“It is.”

“This is Braxton Jagger. I got a message to call you regarding Marissa Brennan.”

“Braxton! I'm so glad you called. I wasn't sure if you would.”

“Is Marissa there? Is she all right? I've wanted to find her so bad, but I didn't know where to look.” Braxton was so excited at possibly finding out where Marissa was that he forgot his manners.

“Yes, she was here. She tried to find you, even called your friend on the police force. She couldn't reach him but a detective took her number and got in touch with him. He said to tell her that you want nothing to do with her.”

“That is absolutely not true!” Braxton exclaimed. “In fact, I asked Logan to give my number to Marissa or her father if either of them called looking for me.” He was incensed that his friend had had the gall to lie when he'd agreed to give his number to Marissa.

“At any rate, she was at a standstill - her family doctor here tried, too, leaving his number with the detective division. He didn't say it was about Marissa, but Logan never called him.”

“I will deal with Logan. You said Marissa *was* there - she isn't anymore? Is she okay?”

“She was here, but she's not at the moment. She went missing the other night.”

A chill ran down Braxton's spine. “What night?” he asked with dread.

“Saturday.” Braxton froze. The same night he'd had that awful sense that something was wrong. Chris told him what had been relayed to him by Gael.

“Oh, God”, he said, almost in a whisper. “How did they get her? What has she been doing?” He hesitated, then said “Wait a minute ... who are you? What is your connection with Marissa?” He'd been so hung up on getting info about Marissa, he hadn't thought to find out who Chris was.

Chris told him about having babysat the older Brennan children years ago and of coming back to his home town to set up practice there. He touched on Marissa being involved with a drug cartel and finished with “She gave me permission to talk to you about her, though she didn't think she'd ever find you.”

“You are her therapist?” Braxton was happy that she was talking to a professional. He'd tried to get her to when she was in Denver and had been frustrated at her resistance.

“Not officially. We're talking as friends. She's more comfortable that way. Besides, she doesn't have coverage for therapy here in Canada yet.”

“How are her parents doing with what's happening?”

“Not good. They are worried as hell. It's almost worse this time around because they are pretty sure they know who kidnapped her and what they will do to her. I'm keeping in close contact with them. In fact, I'm going there for supper tonight and I'll be able to see the whole family and make an assessment of how they are doing emotionally.”

“I'm glad they have you, I think I'll call Gael tonight and talk to him. Right now I have to get going, my first class starts in a few minutes.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was the third day that Marissa had been in the cell at the Cartel's compound. She was in immense pain from the backup of urine in her kidney and she knew the infection was coming back full force. Her other kidney was working fine and at first, she'd been able to crawl to the toilet to relieve herself and get a drink from the sink. Nobody had brought her anything to eat or drink. Now she was in so much pain, she couldn't get off the bed and was lying in her own waste. She didn't understand why her prayers for the release of death were going unanswered.

Marissa heard something out in the hall. It sounded like footsteps, then a key in her cell's lock. Someone came up to the bed. “Hello dear, it's Dr Cardenas. Are you awake?” She moaned, then said “yes” in a faint voice. “I'm just going to listen to your heart, okay? Let me help you onto your back.” Marissa had been lying on her stomach. “What's your name, dear?”

“Ma-Ma-Marissa”, she answered.

“Marissa, what's your last name?” There was a reason he was asking. Knowing her name might make it possible to find her family.

“Br-Brennan.”

He listened to her heart. It sounded surprisingly good considering the shape she was in. “All right, Marissa Brennan. You hang in there. I'm going to get you out of here, but I can't do it tonight. Maybe tomorrow night. Let me get you a drink. Oh dear, there's no cup in this cell. I'll be right back.”

The doctor used his master key to enter the next cell. They were all empty, except for Marissa's. He took the cup from it and the bedding and towels - he'd noticed the mess in Marissa's bed. He got her a drink of water and encouraged her to have as much as she could drink. Then he cleaned her up and changed her bedding. “I know you can't get up to use the toilet, I will be back in a bit with a solution, but first I'll set you on it so you can do your business.” After she peed, he had her lean into the sink, which was right next to the toilet, and he opened her nephrostomy nipple to drain as much urine from her kidney as possible. He'd only taken the outer tube out a few nights ago, not the catheter in the kidney.

A half hour later the doctor was back with a Foley catheter. “I'm sorry, dear, this might not be pleasant, but it will drain your bladder, I know you have one good kidney.” He put the catheter in and attached it to a large drainage bag. He was banking on his superiors not going to her cell and therefore not seeing it. So far, they hadn't - they had told him to keep an eye on her and let them know when she was dead.

“I will be back as soon as I can, Marissa”, he promised. “Hang in there. It's not too late. Think of your loved ones and how happy they will be to see you again.”

Dr Cardenas left and Marissa fell asleep. When she woke up, she thought it had all been a dream and prayed again for release.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Gael? It's Braxton Jagger”, Braxton said when the Brennan patriarch answered the phone.

“Braxton!” Gael exclaimed. “Chris Holden told me he'd talked to you and that you would be calling tonight. It's good to hear from you.”

“I wish it were under better circumstances”, Braxton lamented. “Chris told me about Marissa coming home and of her disappearance on the weekend. How are you and your family coping?”

Gael sighed. “It's been very difficult, Braxton. Especially since we pretty much know the who and the why - and what lies ahead for her if we're right.”

“What do you mean?”

“Did Chris tell you about what Marissa was doing down there in the States?”

“A little, but he didn't go into a lot of detail. Mostly that she was forced to be a mule for a drug cartel and she ran away and went home.”

“That is true. They had threatened that if she ever ran, they would find her and kill her and kill all of us. They told her that they would torture and kill us and make her watch if she didn't take drugs across the border for them. It's the only thing that got her to do it, repeated beatings didn't work on her. Where I'm going with this is that we are pretty sure it's people from the Cartel who took her from here. They left her crutches and they drugged her steer so he couldn't hurt them. My vet took a blood sample and it showed a high dose of a strong sedative.”

“Her steer?” Marissa had not told Braxton about Charlie except to say she'd had two horses and a steer at home. He'd assumed the steer was being raised for meat.

“She didn't tell you about Charlie?” Gael was surprised.

“Just that she had a steer. I thought he was for meat.”

“That was her intention, but she got so attached to him that she couldn't have him slaughtered. He's her pet now and he's very protective of her - well, of the whole family”. Gael told Braxton about the incident with the four armed men from the Cartel and how Charlie and his bull sent a couple of them flying.

“Wow, that is something! It sounds like your bull is protective, too. Is he safe?” Braxton hadn't spent a lot of time on farms and had never been around a bull.

“Oh, yes - Willy is a gentle bull unless he's around a cow in heat! Unlike the other one I had - Shithead was dangerous. He sent me flying through the air one day and the next, he was in the freezer. I can't have a dangerous animal - I *won't* have a dangerous animal on the farm. There have always been children here - first ours, then foster kids. I would not take the risk of any of them being harmed.

“Anyways, what I was getting at was that we fear they will kill Marissa, if they haven't already. Knowing about the Cartel makes this time worse than the last. I'm so glad that Chris found you. Marissa was heart broken at the thought of never seeing you again. I hope it's not too late.”

They talked some more and Braxton gave Gael his phone numbers, with Gael promising to call him if he had any word on Marissa.

Next, Braxton called Logan. It was all he could do to keep his temper in check. “Logan, why did you pass a message to Marissa that I didn't want anything to do with her?” he asked, unable to keep the anger from his voice. He was trained to not show emotion when a patient was talking to him, and he sometimes used that training in his personal life, but he couldn't help it in this instance. Marissa meant too much to him.

Logan was put on the spot. He'd never expected that anyone connected with Marissa would find his friend. “Uh... well....” he stumbled, “I .... felt it best you not hear from her.”

“Why, Logan? You promised me you'd give her my number if she contacted you!” Braxton was almost yelling now.

“Calm down, Braxton. She'd given you enough trouble. You moved away to forget her, remember?”

“That wasn't your decision to make! And don't tell me to calm down!” Why is it that those who tell you to calm down are those who got you mad in the first place, he thought.

“Did you hear from her? Where is she? Is she involved in that drug cartel?” Logan asked.

“I heard from someone she knows. She's missing - again. Yes, she was in the Cartel, but she left and went home. And tried to find me. Now she's been taken, probably by the Cartel, and they might have killed her! I don't want to hear from you ever again!” He hurled some expletives at the detective and slammed the phone down. He'd called using his landline, so he was able to do that - slam the receiver down. It felt strangely satisfying.

Braxton sat in his chair for a long time thinking about Marissa and hoping the police would find her. He wasn't a particularly religious man, but being Irish, he'd been raised in the Catholic faith. He said a prayer, asking God to keep her safe and bring her back to her family - and to him. At bedtime, he got Marissa's sweater out and for the first time in months, he slept with it in his arms.