Corey left the clinic complex and quickly walked to the corner on the well-lit boulevard. There he waited for a taxi. It was well after midnight, yet the city of Baltimore was still thriving. Standing near the curb and looking down the street he noticed a large sedan seeming to be speeding up as it approached him. Waiting and watching it cautiously, he could quickly see it was drifting to the edge of the road, clearly onto a collision course with him. In the next moment as the car jumped the curb and onto the sidewalk, Corey turned and dove backwards rolling safely out of the way. The car with no plates swerved back and reentered the boulevard. Before it sped on and merged with traffic, he could see the silhouettes of at least two large men in the vehicle.

His heart was beating wildly as he stood up and brushed himself off. Another car slowly pulled up beside him, and a middle-aged woman rolled down the passenger window and asked if he was alright. She no doubt had seen the attempt by someone to run him over, or at least to send an ominous message to him. The woman seemed very upset and concerned.

"I saw what happened . . . Do you want me to call the police?"

"No. Thank you," he answered back, still out of breath.

"You sure? You're not hurt or anything?" The woman was nervously looking over her shoulder at the traffic speeding by.

"No." Corey tried to minimalize what she had just witnessed. "Thankfully my childhood days of judo taught me how to fall." He even tried to smile.

"My God. Who do you think would want to do something like that?"

"It's a crazy world, ma'am. But listen . . . I'm fine. You're very kind to stop. I'll be getting the next taxi."

"Alright. Watch yourself out there, young man!" She put on her blinker to maneuver back into traffic.

"Will do. And thanks again!"

Corey understood what had happened was no random act. And certainly, no accident. Someone obviously knew of his presence and his looking into things tacitly unknown to the public. But was it really his old friends at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, sending him a clear ominous message to back off his snooping? Or was it some other rogue group that had the intelligence to stalk his movements and understand his motives? In either case, he was convinced he was in way over his head while working alone. In a taxi on his way back to the hotel, Corey's phone rang. It was Mattingly.

"Hey Bill. Glad you're not here, brother."

"What. Why'd you say that?"

"Cause your slow fat ass might have just been killed a while back?"

"What? What happened? Hey, you OK?"

"Perfect. Just nearly got run over by . . . the men in black."

"Man, I'm telling you. Get on that next plane to Vegas, Junior."

"Just might do that, Bill. Got the goods on Hopkins' dream program and it looks scary as hell. Something the military would love to exploit. If they're not already."

"Well, that might make the chief happy. But not as happy as if you've got some plan on how we can get that girl back unharmed. He's going nuts with the pressure from the press. Somehow it was leaked that she's still alive somewhere."

"Shit! What else do they know.?"

"The news reports are only saying one of her friends was contacted by Henley. They've reported she's alive and being held captive. Whereabouts still unknown>"

"Yeah. I knew those girls wouldn't be able to keep that down."

The taxi pulled up to the hotel entrance and Corey paid the driver. While still on the phone he made his way into the lobby. Soft chill music was playing, and a few late-night patrons were lounging with drinks.

"So yeah, Bill. On my way up to my room . . . Interesting night. When I met this director of the Hopkins Sleep Clinic tonight . . . I don't know. He came off pretty forthright but tight-lipped about the government agency he admitted was working alongside his researchers. Pretty much just showed me his lab and work. Pure science stuff. But mind-blowing, man. Didn't confirm that it was military specifically. And I'm honestly not sure if he even knows what someone's doing with his research outside his lab. But seriously scary applications, man."

"Well, here's the thing, Bro. The chief want's you back for an important debriefing. He knows the girl is holed up in a yacht somewhere out there. But he's keeping that down. Wants to move on with the port authorities to find out which yacht and where. I didn't tell him you already have that intel. But we've got to move quickly now partner, cause here's the bad news."

"What?"

Corey made it to the elevator and was on his way up to his floor.

"Henley's friend, Jaelyn Coe?"

"Yeah?"

"She called me confidentially. Just about an hour ago. Said Marlow got a hold of a phone again and contacted her. Said the girl sounded weak but had learned the yacht was going to move sometime tomorrow evening. Said she thought she heard the Bahamas but wasn't sure."

"Damn! Once that ship sails out of the harbor, it's anyone's guess where she'll end up."

"So, you gonna get the hell out of there, Indiana Jones? There's gotta be a plane to Vegas sometime tomorrow."

Corey looked down the hallway as he stepped out of the elevator and headed for his room. Fortunately, no one was there. Opening his door, he looked carefully in to see if all looked in place and vacant.

"Corey? Did I lose you?"

"No man, just checking out my room . . . for rats."

Bill waited.

"Alright. Things are intact. Doesn't seem I've had any visitors."

"Great. So look, man. Get some sleep. It must be . . ."

"Around one AM here."

"Yeah, so early to bed, my friend. And get to the airport in the morning. You've seen the warnings there, brother. Guess you're just not welcome in that town."

"OK. I'm working on it."

"You do that. And call me if anything's up."

"Thanks for the call."

After double-checking his bathroom and the closet for his worst nightmare, Corey felt relaxed enough to notice he had bruised both knees and scraped his palm when landing hard on the sidewalk. Gingerly washing his hands and getting out of his uncomfortable clothes, he crawled into the bed flipping on the TV to catch the headlines. Midway into the news cycle, CNN ran an update on the "Missing Beauty Queen" story. He froze while watching and listening to it, hoping important details of the case would not yet be made public.

"CNN reporters have learned today that moving into the third week, the FBI and local authorities, previously stymied by a case of abduction in las Vegas, have made a major breakthrough."

Corey held his breath and watched the screen as a photo of a younger, healthy Henley, smiling during her winning moments of victory in Arizona, were being shown as a backdrop. The coverage went on:

"The case involving this contestant at the annual Miss World America run off, was reportedly abducted on the night before the final judging. Her disappearance has gripped the nation as a mystery and possibly a great tragedy. CNN has recently learned, whoever, that new developments in the case may now be shifting into a rescue operation. This comes as one of Henley's friends from Scottsdale, requesting to remain anonymous . . . claims she has had at least two phone calls from the missing girl over the last few days. The calls, she reports, were from an untraceable phone number. However, she is positive the young woman she heard from is her missing friend, now believed being held captive at an unknown location. This gives hope to family, friends and many around the country. Few details of the victim's condition or whereabouts at this time were given by Henley to her friend."

Responding to the news report, and the information Jaelyn had earlier given to Bill, Corey knew he had one more task to complete the following morning. Before arranging for his own journey home.

* * *