Them

Lauren wanted to hide the latest from her already freaked-out wife but knew that to do so would be anything but a good thing. They'd always agreed that honesty and openness were the best policies for a successful relationship. Omitting important and valuable information was not productive. Both their home and their hotel room had been gone over with a fine-tooth comb in search of cameras, bugs, or any other hidden devices. Heidi knew something was up as soon as the door to the hotel opened, and she and three uniformed police officers began their search of the room. Timothy sat in the chair at the far end of the room and glanced up from his Nintendo Switch without much interest. Like most teenagers, he wasn't interested in grown-up stuff, even if he was close to grown up himself and even if it was serious business that most people would never experience in their lifetime. He was more frustrated that he couldn't go online or go anywhere other than school and was embarrassed to have to have a police officer escort him to and from school than anything that was going on around him. Not that he didn't feel bad for what had happened to Lauren. She had always been a great step-mom, and he respected her a lot. After the officers left, confident they hadn’t found anything suspicious, Heidi sat down at the foot of one of the beds and broke down in tears. Lauren sat next to her and placed an arm around her. “Hey, it's going to be OK,” she said, wishing she could believe her own words. Heidi sobbed quietly for another moment and then looked at Lauren and said, “Just what the hell did you do to piss this bitch off so bad?” For the first time in their long relationship, Lauren felt hurt and guilty. A second later, so did Heidi, who apologized profusely, totally regretting her words. “I'm so sorry! I didn't mean it like that.” “I know, I know,” Lauren soothed gently. “All I can say is that Janelle Stone is crazy. She is a very rage-filled woman who just doesn't give up. She just can't let go and move on.” “Damn, not even with all that money,” said Heidi. “Nope,” Lauren said sadly. “Not even with all that money. And who knows how much is left of it, with all the money she's got to be spending to hire people on the dark web to spy on us, plus all the other stuff she did.” “What are we going to do?” Lauren casually glanced at Timothy, wondering how much he was overhearing, but he had his headphones on. “I don't know the details, and of course I couldn't give them to you if I had them, but I think they're working on maneuvers to flush Stone out.” “Flush her out how?” asked Heidi. “Well, I guess they're gonna try to get her back to the U.S.” “If that doesn't work, then what?” “Well, this can't go on forever. It's got to end sooner or later somehow,” said Lauren. “I just hope that when it does, we're all still alive,” said Heidi. “We will be,” Lauren said, with a confidence she didn't quite feel. “We're going to get through this.” Never before did she want someone dead as badly as she wanted Stone dead. Her phone buzzed with a text message. Sure enough, it was from Janelle Stone—Janelle Stone, who seemed to be everywhere and nowhere, who seemed to know all kinds of personal information that no one should know, not even those with the best of resources. Trying not to show her anxiety in any way to Heidi and upset her even more, she excused herself to go to the bathroom. “I heard your phone vibe,” Heidi called after her. “Who is it?” “Just police business. I'll fill you in if I learn anything more.” With that, she stepped into the bathroom and closed the door behind her. She went to the toilet, closed the lid, and sat down. Then she tapped the message thread and opened the message. Their choice of booking you and yours into the Silver Pine Hotel was a good one. I've also booked a room here, and it's quite comfortable if I do say so myself. Lauren felt her heart rate spike in a way it hadn't since she'd been kidnapped by the bitch. Lauren tried to keep herself from trembling. The once composed, cool, confident woman was now struggling to keep herself together. An idea suddenly came to her. She knew she was going against orders and risked being fired, but she was at the point where she no longer gave a shit. She began typing out a reply. First of all, I highly doubt this is Janelle Stone. But you know what? Even if it was, no one's scared of you anymore. No one cares, and very few people read your messages anymore. If they do, it's just so they can get a good laugh. I'm only here to please my boss. Believe me, it won't be for long, whoever this is. Pretty sure the real Janelle Stone is tucked safely in Montenegro and has no reason to be making any empty threats. Even the dumbest of idiots wouldn't take such unnecessary risks. Janelle Stone wasn't bright, but she wasn't that dumb either. She pressed send and waited a few minutes for a reply. When it didn’t come, she finally rinsed her face and stepped out of the bathroom. Heidi looked at her expectantly. “Everything is fine,” she told her.