Matthew hardly slept. He exercised a lot, drank a lot, worked on the computer and called people. He was on a diet of only Jim Beam. A couple times a a day he would go check on his Mom and Hunter. Amy and Cindy said he looked really bad. Amy put his Mom on antidepressants and sleeping pills. She couldn’t eat or sleep without them. The driver Joey of the car and Carl were having a nervous break down. The nurse had to put them on heavy sleeping pills, antidepressants, and suicide watch. Gary was on a diet of mostly coffee. Cups of coffee, coffee candy, chocolate covered coffee beans and anything else that had coffee. Sometimes he would throw in some B vitamins. He was afraid to go to sleep. He thought any minute he might find Angel. No one left the compound. They were afraid to send their kids to school so no one left. If a delivery truck came someone went out to the platform the truck was sitting on and got the deliveries. No one was allowed in. Carl was given a job to interview people about where they were and talking to the day before and up to the abduction. Matthew assigned another people to watch over Carl and work with him because of his mental state. He also assigned a person to work with and look after Joey for the same reason. Joey was given the job of sweeping all buildings, autos and electronic devices for bugs. Matthew had to find out how they knew Mom and Angel were going to be at the ice cream parlor. Mom had ask Matthew the afternoon before that she wanted to go. So that was a very short time for someone to plan everything for the pickup.
In the late afternoon Matthew was in his office when Gary called. He said a friend called him and said he found out who picked up the contract. He said the man went by the name ICE. Matthew said he had heard of him. That he often picked up contracts that he himself had turned down. Gary said he lives with his team on a submersible boat so know one can find him. Gary said he has several friends looking for ICE and he would let Matthew know as soon as he got any updates. He thanked Gary. Almost in tears he told him I can’t tell how much what you are doing for me means to me. Matthew worked on the computer trying to find out how much money he could put on a contract for ICE’s head. After an hour he called Gary. He asked Gary what amount do you think a contract should be to get ICE’s men to turn against him. Gary said he thought maybe a mil or more. Gary said he would research ICE’s recent contacts, try and figure out how much him and his men were making and call Matthew back.
Matthew looked at the clock and thought Mom and Hunter would be going to dinner. He thought he would go visit. He came in to Mom’s dining area. Everyone was already there. He said high to his Mom and kissed her on her cheek. He look over at Hunter. She had her hands stretched out and was saying Daddy. He almost broke down crying. He took her out of her high chair and held her in her arms. He hugged her and kissed her. He told her I love you so much. She was so happy to see him. He set down. With her in his left arm he put a large napkin on her and tried giving her a spoon of apple sauce. She really liked it. He asked Cindy what else she was eating and Cindy gave Matthew her plate. He told Cindy he was going to feed her, her dinner. Amy asked what Matthew wanted to eat? Matthew said nothing for him he wasn’t hungry. Amy said I am going to get you a smoothie. You need to take care of yourself for Hunter until Angel gets back. When it came it was a strawberry protein. He looked at it but couldn’t bring himself to drink it. Hunter started refusing her food pushing it away with her hand. She started reaching for the smoothie. That is what she wanted. Finally Matthew said I will give you some but you have to eat the rest of your food. He picked up the smoothie and brought the straw up to her mouth. She couldn’t get the straw to work. She wasn’t happy and pushed the straw to Matthew’s mouth. Matthew said I will show you how a straw works. He said pucker up your mouth and suck on the straw. He put the straw in his mouth and smoothie can up the straw. After drinking some he moved the straw back to Hunter. She tried again but still couldn’t get it to work. She pushed it back to Matthew. Matthew put his finger over the end of the straw and pulled the straw out of the cup and put the end in Hunter’s mouth. Letting go of the end on the straw Hunter stated getting smoothie. Hunter was very happy. Matthew put the straw back in the cup and drink some more. He then did the same thing. Taking the straw out so Hunter could have some. He then tried to finish the drink so he could get back to Hunter’s dinner. He finished it and showed Hunter it was all gone. She took his head in her hands and kissed him on his cheek. He now had smoothie on his cheek but didn’t care. It was great. He went back to feeding Hunter her dinner. They were all at dinner for a long time and it helped Matthew take his mind off of everything for a moment. He then gave Hunter to Cindy and thanked her for helping him and told her how much he appreciated her. He kissed his Mom on the forehead and told her he had to go back to work. Mom said she was so glad he came down for dinner and was hopping he would come down breakfast. He told her he would try.