Them

Many hours later and very exhausted, Janelle Stone dropped her carry-on bag on the floor next to her suitcase, just inside the door of her small Montenegro home. With the nearest neighbor about 75 feet away, she felt confident enough to give a loud whoop of delight and relief without being heard. She kept to herself as much as she could, and that was made easier by the fact that the locals didn't seem to care for foreigners very much. They also figured she was too fat and ugly for them to want to associate with. This worked out well for her because, as much as she would love to complain about some of them for noisy mutts and kids, she knew it was better to stay out of sight and out of mind. The last thing she could afford was to make waves there, and even she was smart enough to know that. Even though there was no extradition treaty with the U.S., she would prefer for the authorities in the U.S. not to know where she was. After quickly fixing herself a bite to eat, she fired up her laptop and opened her Tor browser. With her VPN turned on, she googled the police department in the town where she rented the house. She wondered what the boys’ reaction had been when they discovered her gone. She hoped they hadn't killed Boris and Lauren to eliminate witnesses, but had a feeling they probably wouldn't go that far. They just weren't those kinds of criminals. They could steal, kidnap, and torture, but not kill. After she typed her letter to the chief of police, she wondered how long it would be before it was actually read. It was midnight where this department was, so it would be a handful of hours before it was seen. She wasn't sure if the box was monitored when the chief wasn't around to read messages, but she trusted that it would be read before Boris and Lauren could starve to death, if they were still alive. Eight hours later in the U.S., Police Chief Elias Carter went to check his messages. He was tired that morning after working late into the night on a few cases the previous night, but one of the messages woke him right up. Greetings! I rented an Airbnb at the address below. I was supposed to spend the entire month there, but had to leave early. The owners are older people who are vacationing in Florida. You need to get to the house right away if you want APO Boris Brownly and Detective Lauren Gilbert to live, assuming the guys holding them hostage there haven't killed them. Check down in the basement. I do not have the names or contact info of the homeowners because I went through the Airbnb company. They're called Happy Heavenly Haven Stays. That's all the info I can give you at this time. Chief Carter immediately sprang into action. Before long, Brownly and Gilbert were rescued. They were hungry, dehydrated, and filthy as hell, but they were alive. Both were brought to the hospital, where they could receive proper care. Their friends and family were contacted, and whenever their energy levels permitted, they gave their statements and detailed accounts of the horrifying ordeal they had been subject to for over three weeks. They explained that Janelle Stone apparently hired help to kidnap, guard, and torture them as "payback" through the dark web, and how she took off without telling the others, and then the others took off afterward. Authorities went door to door in the neighborhood, but no one had witnessed anything. The houses were not very close to one another, and therefore, there were not many people nearby. Also, it had been the middle of the night. The million-dollar question was where Stone had gone and how she had gotten there. They called all the local taxi services, as well as Uber and Lyft. No one picked up any passengers with the name Janelle Stone, but when shown a picture of her, a couple of drivers recognized her. They learned she had first Ubered a couple of blocks away and then Lyfted to the airport. She had paid in cash, so there was no paper trail. They interviewed all the employees who worked the night Stone entered the airport, but none of them seemed to remember her. One woman thought she might have seen her but wasn't sure. They got a list of all the outgoing flights that took off around the time she arrived at the airport. They found it interesting that just a few hours after the Lyft driver dropped her off, a flight to Montenegro had departed. Eventually, they were able to interview crew members aboard that flight, and two flight attendants recognized her. So now law enforcement was aware of where she had gone, and they were furious as hell. Once again, Janelle Stone had gotten away with serious crimes.