Feminine Fire

"Excellent idea, Jack. Go check with the Paris headquarters. Owens will have a pretty up to date breakdown of all the financial movements of anyone known to associate with Gelding. Check Gelding's holdings too. I doubt he has a lot yet, but I want to know what they've got, and I want them checking any known properties they either hold or are investors in. We shut them down pretty good a few months ago. Lets see if they've managed to rally at all.

"Brian," Robert said. "Don't lose your head over this, Lad. We'll get her back. If she were in any true, life threatening danger, Kate and I would both know it, and I'm wagering Jess would too. So far as kate and I know, she's alright so far. Probably pissed off, but I don't blame her for that."

"She can have as big a temper tantrum on me as she wants when I get her home safe and sound," Brian said softly, trying to keep himself from reacting in his own fear. He wasn't used to being afraid. He usually coped with such a solid and calm state of mind, but Robert could see that Brian's feelings for Khaat and for their children that she carried made him feel much more vulnerable. He decided he was going to stay close to this, for everyone's sake.

Steven listened and nodded that he agreed it was a good idea from jack he watched as Cara herself moved out of the house and around the perimeter. Trotting back she brought a piece of paper,dropping it in front of Robert as she sat waiting.

Jack nodded and smiled at Steven " ok sir " he said and moved into the house to find Jess with Dakota and Abby. Cara and her cubs sat ether side of them " guess nobody will get close to those two" he said an chuckled as he contacted the Paris head quarters informing them of what had happened. Soon he closed it down and moved to Jess " anything yet?" he asked and she shook her head.

" hope I haven't lost my touch all I can sense is Stevens fear at not being able to have stopped it and Brian's guilt for letting them get this close and having her so far from him " she said and looked up at him " you go back out they need you out there we're fine " she said and pushed him to the door, Jack moved out and back to the group.

Robert picked up the paper and read it. "Not much use here, Boys and Girls," he said. "Owens says there are no new holdings since we cleaned them out a few months back. Not many financial transactions either. Nothing out of the ordinary. The only thing it tells me is that he has her either in someplace they already own or something owned by one of their friends. I just don't see anything different here." He looked over at Brian who punched his fist into a nearby tree.

"Don't break anything, Son," Robert told him. "You might need that later whenever we find her and have to get her out. Look, all, we have to put our feelings aside here. Its not our fault that we were penetrated. We did everything possible to safeguard her. We checked the spells, we checked the grounds, we guarded her. There was nothing more we could have done. Let's get it together here. Owens will be extending his search to the paper trails of the friends and family members of all of Geldings known employees. For now, lets just make sure that Abbey and Dakota stay okay and stay with us. Khaat's smart. She'll know how to buy us some time if it is at all possible. There's nothing more we're going to learn out here. Let's go back inside and put the house in lockdown mode so that the girls never leave our sight."

Steven breathed out pushing his feelings to one side as he walked back inside noticing how Jess was sat with the girls and Cara's pups sat each side. " Seems they are on guard duty for the girls." He said to Jess who smiled up at him and nodded as he moved to the kitchen. He checked each window and was happy they were locked. He saw men moving around at the front of the grounds, but knew them and nodded as each one passed the kitchen window. Soon taking a cup of coffee he moved back into the living room seeing jack stood at the main door. Moving to a chair he sat down watching Brian and Robert talking.

Khaat soon woke to find she had been rather carelessly tossed on a dark and dirty, damp cellar floor. The vines were gone. She sighed heavily. Just finding herself laying on a stone floor was frustrating in itself. It wasn't going to be a position she would be getting up easily from. Heck, it normally took Brian's help for her to stand up from a chair now. And getting up from the floor? That took him doing almost all the work, so she wasn't doing it nearly as much anymore. She wasn't chained or tied, but by putting her on the floor they might as well have. It was just as handicapping to be on the floor. She was quite sure she saw a door at the top of the stairs, and she was just as sure that door was locked. She sighed and began the difficult task of trying to find a way to get up.

Steven listened to them making plans trying to find a solution to where Khaat could have been taken. He gave a deep sigh and finished his coffee his own mind thinking hard of something but coming up empty . He moved to stand behind Jack listening to Robert as he talked. " maybe its some old place that's no longer being used and we over looked it, like that place Jess was taken " he said looking down at a map Jack had spread out over the low coffee table. " I f it was me it would be in this region , mountains around it and hidden by trees but close enough that you can make a quick entrance and getaway" he moved his finger over the map " north east section " he stopped and looked at them. " Trails hard to negotiate so nobody would dare go there" he spoke and looked at Brian and Robert " well that's my opinion " he said and moved to sit back down.

Jack watched Steven move over the map marking the trail he marked with his finger " makes sense that he would chose some place out of the way like that " he said as Jess placed down a cup of hot tea for him and he smiled at her. Picking it up he took a sip " Cinnamon and orange , Jess is trying to get me off the caffeine" he said and blew over it before taking a sip watching her sit next to the girls. He looked back at the marks he had made on the map and sighed he knew it was along shot but what did they have right now, practically nothing and they all knew it. Jack sipped his tea once again and looked at Robert " so now what send out men to search while we wait?" he asked.

Jess sat looking at the men and she sighed playing with the girls buy rolling a small ball back and forth, she smiled at them trying to not show her emotions. Her heart went out to Abby and Dakota, she hoped the men would find Khaat soon and safe as she also knew Abby would soon miss her along with Dakota. She reached out and touched Abby's cheek and smiled as one of the cubs moved her hand " its ok she's safe with me. " She said and it backed away again, it was nice to see them taking after their mother and she knew they would make good guards for the grounds.

Robert frowned, thinking deeply. "Its always a possibility," he said. "But let's not forget Felix Barker who chose to hide in, rather, plain sight in muggle London. She could literally be anywhere...." As he was speaking, an owl arrived and dropped a note in his hand. He opened it and read it. A sly smile came over his face.

"Ah, well, ladies and gentlemen, it seems we may have a bargaining chip. Tom Gelding, it seems has a girlfriend. My thought is that if we isolate her for a bit, it may aggravate Gelding enough that he may well decide to get Burke under control, and he might be persuaded to do that rather quickly. What do you think? I don't normally ask you to consider something that we would otherwise consider to be unlawful, but we do all realize the urgency of this. We can't let Khaat be gone from us for long for very obvious reasons. Who's up for going to remove Gelding's girl friend from him so that we might arrange an exchange. His girlfriend for my daughter." He looked at Brian and saw clearly that Brian was already working on a plan to do just that. Brian didn't have to speak. Robert could see it in Brian's face. Brian was angry enough that he didn't care if he had anyone to back him up or not.

Steven looked at Robert then at jack who looked at him , he rolled his eyes and nodded. " Count me in" he said softly as he sat sipping his coffee. he was glad they had a bargaining chip but not that it was a woman, he hated that fact wishing there was another way but as much as he tried to find one he too could not come up with anything as good. As such he accepted it and go with them ,for the sake of Khaat and the innocent children she carried inside her.

Jack nodded and looked at Robert " so the first step is to locate the girlfriend " he said moving closer to them as he wanted to get this done and get Khaat back just as much as Brian did he knew Jess wanted it too even though she didn't say it he could see it in her eyes as she looked over at them worried. " so quick in and out or a stealth mission?" Jack asked hoping to gauge Brian's mind.

"I plan on being very obvious about it. I want Gelding to know exactly who to look for. In fact, I'll most likely send a freaking ransom note to Gelding with my demands in it. Don't worry. I won't hurt her. She'll be treated well. I'm not after her. I'm not even after Gelding. I only want his attention enough for him to have a vested interest in getting Ethan Burke under control." He took the note from Robert, read it for himself and laughed. "There's a footnote here that Robert didn't read. He will be more than interested in getting her back. She's ridiculously wealthy. She's the one who must be keeping him in the luxurious lifestyle he so enjoys. So, if we take her, and lock up her finances, he'll come hunting me. And that's exactly what I want."

Steven looked at Brian ans nodded " that's good means he will have no choice but to ether let Khaat go or starve both him and his men " he said watching them from his seat as he now finished his coffee and placed the cup gently down on the table next to him. slowly he turned to look at Robert and Brian. Placing down his foot he walked over to stand behind Jack hi arms folded " so...how do we do this open strike" he asked knowing Brian being a good strategist would have an idea already forming as to how and when they would strike at the girl friend.

Jack felt Steven walk up be hind him as he waited for them he looked at Jess who brought over a cup of tea for him and smiled as she quickly moved back to the girls who he could see were tired. He watched as Jess changed them and placed them in their travel cot to sleep wanting to keep them close to them so nobody could take them as well.