9:00 PM

The first hour begins...Jack Bauer must race against time to stop terrorists from kidnapping Willow Rosenberg. Will he make in time, or will the terrorist get one step closer to their plans?

______________________________________________________

9:00 PM

The facility of the CTU Command Center was a constant buzz of activity.  Tony led a team of agents into the halls of the building and headed for the CTU Medical unit.  Behind him, and surrounded by agents, the surviving terrorist of a successful ambush lay in a stretcher.  He was yelling out obscenities in his own language and complaining about the abuse of American agents upon foreign visitors.

As they were getting closer to the Medical unit, Michelle Dessler approached Tony.  She glanced behind them from where they had come in and then took in the prisoner on the stretcher.  Tony came to a stop beside Michelle and allowed the others to continue on their way without him.  They knew the priority was to get the prisoner’s wound taken care of as quickly as possible and make him available for interrogation.  He was almost glad that Jack hadn’t come in with them.  The man would have discounted the medical care and gone straight for the interrogation.

“Michelle,” he began as he turned his attention on her, “has Chloe been able to come up with anything on the nuclear device?”

Michelle shook her head.  “No.  The device is completely off the grid.  Where’s Jack?  I thought he was going to head up the interrogation?”

“No.  Jack is taking into full account what the terrorist told us at the warehouse district and following a lead based on presumption.  He’s taking Kim with him.”

“Kim?  He’s taking Kim out into the field?  That’s not like him, Tony.”  She frowned.  “What did this guy tell you?”

“He seemed to indicate that a kidnapping was going to be taking place in Sunnydale…and then something about the mouth of hell.  Really, Michelle, it made no sense to me, but when the name ‘Rosenberg’ was mentioned, that’s when Jack decided to follow this weak lead.”  He shook his head.  “I think the man was just talking to stop the pain, but…Jack feels there has to be something to it.”

“Why would he think that?”

“Because he and Kim know some Rosenberg’s in Sunnydale.”  He turned and headed for his office.  “Look, just give me a heads up when the interrogation is ready.  I’m going to go see what we have on this guy in our files.”

Michelle returned to the Command Center and couldn’t help but wonder how Kim was going to respond out on the field.

_______

9:05

Jack hadn’t said two words since his daughter climbed into the SUV on the passenger side and he pulled out of the parking lot.  Many people would take that as a sign not to rock the boar and allow the silence to remain.  It wasn’t hard to feel the tension pouring out from Jack as he drove, his hard eyes on the road before them, but Kim decided that the silence was not good for her.

“Helloooooo,” she said with a wave.  “Aren’t you at least going to say ’hi’?  That would be the polite way to respond.”

 Jack sighed and glanced at her.  “Yeah.  Sorry.  I guess I have a lot on my mind.”  He hesitated.  “Hi.”

“I know that was hard for you, Dad., but, really…you’ve got to stop being so angry all the time.”

“I’m not angry.”

“You’re not?”

Jack shrugged.  “No.  I’m just pressed for time.”

“Pressed for time?”

“Okay, so I guess being pressed for time tends to make me a little cranky, but there’s a nuclear device out there somewhere.  We don’t where it is.  All we do know is that there is going to be a kidnapping attempt in Sunnydale.  Somehow, it’s connected to the terrorists who have the device.”

“So…why am I coming?  You weren’t exactly forthcoming when you called and told me to meet you out front.”

“I didn’t tell you?”

“No.”  She looked at her father closely.  When he didn’t say anything, she said, “Are you going to tell me any time soon why I’m going with you?  I do recall you were very adamant about keeping me off the field until hell froze over, so what happened to change your mind?”

Jack paused.  “The terrorist told us that the one who is going to be kidnapped in Sunnydale is Rosenberg.”

Kim stared at him.  “Aunt Sheila and Uncle Ira?  Willow?  Wait…Are you telling me you think one of them is going to be kidnapped?”

“I don’t know, Kim.  This is the only lead we have and we’re following it.  That’s why it’s called a lead.  I need you in case…in case any of the Rosenberg’s are in trouble.”

“Dad, they have first names.  Why can’t you say them?”

“Kim…you and your mother have…”  He stopped.  Then, he tried again.  “Had a relationship with these people.  I’ve never even met them.  They’re not even your real Aunt and Uncle.  They were friends of Terri’s and…and they may be in trouble.  That’s why you’re here.”

“I spent a few summers there with Mom, Dad.  They may not be related by blood, but we were close.  And for a while, I felt like I had a little sister.”

“Yeah.  Well, so we know I’m not too sociable.”

“I think you’re sociable.  You just don’t take any time off.”  She pointed a finger at him.  “Too many bad guys to shoot.”

“Let’s hope there are no bad guys to shoot when we get there.  Let’s hope the Rosenberg’s are out of harms way and this is nothing but a dead end.  With any luck, maybe Tony can get something from our guest.”  He glanced at her.  “Why don’t you give them a call and let them know we’re coming?”

Kim took her cell phone out of her purse.  “What do I tell them?”

He shrugged.  “Tell them anything.”

“Thanks, Dad.  I’ll just tell them we’re coming to make sure that they’re not going to be kidnapped by terrorists.”

“I’m sure you’ll think of something.”

_______

9:12

At the Rosenberg residence in Sunnydale, the phone on the kitchen counter rang.  It rang four times before the answering machine picked up.

“Hi.  You have reached Ira, Sheila and Willow Rosenberg,” said a male voice.  “We’re not home or we just don’t want to answer the phone.  Please leave your message after the beep.”

The message ended.

Kim’s voice then came through the phone and into the recorder.  “Hi, Uncle Ira, Aunt Sheila…Hi, Willow!  How’s my favorite sister?”  There was a pause.  “Look, I know it’s late…my father and I need to come over to see you so we’re on our way and should be there in an hour.  We’ll explain when we get there.  Hope to see you soon.  ‘Bye.”

The call ended.  And a shadow moved across the counter and was gone.

_______

9:15

LA International Airport was not the final destination for Mulder as he walked through the terminal to get his luggage.  Almost six hours on a plane with a screaming child was enough to make anyone cranky.  He decided that he would rather be on a plane full of snakes rather than one cranky child.  He was tired and wanted to get his rental car from Enterprise so he could drive for an hour to his hotel.  Somewhere in Sunnydale, there was a bed with his name on it.

He retrieved his luggage and headed for the car rental place, but on his way, he saw something in the window of a gift shop that he just had to have.

Sun Flower seeds.

_______

9:23

It was an abandoned factory on the outskirts of Sunnydale that had become the home of a dangerous man, his woman and their minions.  The only thing they had in common with each other was that they were vampires.  The notorious William the Bloody, or Spike as he was known nowadays, walked down a corridor with a the woman of his heart on his arm.

“Come along, luv,” he said to her soothingly, concerned with her sudden state of mind.  She had begun to have periodic moments of outbursts that made no sense to him.  “Daddy has arranged for you a nice little snack.  I have them hanging from the ceiling in the basement, just waiting for you to sink your teeth into them.”

Drusilla walked beside him, and she patted his arm.  “That’s lovely, dear.  I am a little famished.”

Spike frowned.  He heard what she said, but her eyes were not focused.  They seemed to be staring at something he couldn’t see.  It disturbed him greatly.  “I’m glad you’re famished.  Soon, you won’t be, luv.  You’re going to enjoy this.  I promise.”  He led her down into the basement, encouraging her as he did.  He continued to talk to her until they came to their destination.

Hanging from the rafters with chains shackled to their wrists were a young man and a young woman.  Even as they approached, they both pleaded for their lives, but their plea’s might as well have fallen onto deaf ears.  The three minions who had been watching over them only leered at them, purposefully showing their sharp teeth.  As for Spike, he didn’t want to hear their plea’s.  He wanted to hear their screams.  He also wanted Drusilla to enjoy them.

“What did I tell you, luv?”  Spike smiled at his mistress.  He waved his hand at the helpless captives and glanced at them.  “Do you like what you see or - What the bloody hell is this?!”  He angrily strode toward the captives and pointed at the helpless woman.  “Would one of you bleeding morons care to explain this?”

The morons exchanged glances.  “Explain what?” one of them inquired innocently.

“Are you blind?”  To show the minion what he was referring to, he grabbed a handful of the girl’s hair and yanked her head back.  There was no way now to hide the bite mark and the blood on her neck.  “Which one of you ninny’s had a taste?”

“Oh…”  The minion looked at the other two.  But none of them offered up an answer.

“These two Happy Meals were not for you,” Spike snapped.  “One of you bit this girl --”

“It was just a taste.  She’s still fresh.”

“Oh, it was just a taste, was it?” Spike replied sarcastically.  “She’s still fresh, is she?”  Suddenly he closed the distance between him and the minion and slammed him against the wall.  A railroad spike was in his hand and he used it to jam it into the minion’s throat.  With that done, Spike picked him up and threw him hard against the wall.  The minion crashed to the floor and then lay there gagging as he tried to remove the spike.

Spike glared at the other two minions.  “Get out of here or get the same thing.”

The two minions didn’t wait for anything else to happen.  They were gone as fast as they could leave.  While this had been happening, Drusilla had been watching the captives hanging by their wrists.  Watching them…but seeing something else.

Spike took her by the hand and led her directly up to them.  “I’m sorry about that, luv,” he said apologetically.  “You just can’t get good help these days.”

The girl began to cry.  The man shook his chains.  “You’re a monster!”

“What the bloody hell is wrong with you?  You don’t come into someone’s home by special invitation and start insulting the man of the house.  Where are your manners?”

“You…you killed that man!  He bit my girlfriend.  What are you people?”

“I don’t care if this girl is your date or not, you git.  She happens to be my girl’s dinner, as do you, too, by the way.  And that moron who bit your girl isn’t dead.  Look at him.”  Spike moved closer when the man didn’t respond.  “I said look at him!”

Filled with morbid curiosity, both the captive man and woman looked down at the minion on the floor.  He was still moving.  He had managed to get the spike out of his throat, but now he laid on his stomach with his hands on his throat.  A gurgling sound omitted from him.

“He’s not dead…or more to the point, he isn‘t alive like you two nits are,” Spike told them.  “In fact, that is what separates us from you.  You see, we can cut you and make you bleed until your life comes to an end.  But you can put a spike in our throats…and we will never die.  This fool will suffer for a while because of what I did to him, but he will recover.  Of course, if I had misjudged my aim and dislocated his head from his shoulders, well, that would have been another story altogether.  Suffice it to say that he will make it and tomorrow, a little more uglier than he was before, he’ll go after fresh meat.  You two, on the other hand…”  He again grabbed the girl by her hair and pulled her head back.  “…will spend all night screaming and when we’re done, there’ll be nothing left.  Isn’t that right, luv?”  When Drusilla didn’t respond, he turned to look at her.  “Dru, darling…are you alright?”

Drusilla looked at him without really seeing him.  “He’s coming,” she said softly.

Spike frowned.  “Who’s coming?”

“He who walks with Death is coming, and he brings Wrath with him.”

_______

9:30 

Their travel time was getting shorter because Jack had added a little more speed as he drove.  It was enough speed to give Kim cause for concern, but when there had been no answer at the Rosenberg residence, Jack feared the worst.  He suspected they were too late.  He was certain that the terrorists had gotten to the Rosenberg’s first and had taken them away.

Unfortunately, he had no way of knowing that for certain until they got there.  He did have something he could do.

He pulled out his cell phone and seed-dialed a number.

After two rings, a woman’s cranky voice said, “What?”

“Chloe, I need you to put me through to the local police department in Sunnydale,” he told her.

There was a sigh.  “What am I, your phone service?”

“You can do it faster than I can.  Besides, I’m driving and I don’t have time to play games with Verizon right now.”

“Yeah.  Okay.  Whatever.”  There was another pause.  “You know, talking on your cell phone while driving is dangerous anyway.  You could get into an accident.”

“Chloe…”

“Okay.”  There was a third pause.  “Okay.  It’s ringing.  I’ll patch you through.  Next time, get Kim to do it.  I’m still trying to find the device and I can’t do that if I keep getting interrupted.”

“Fine, Chloe.  Thank you.”  He shook his head.  Then, he was patched through and he heard the phone ringing.  He glanced at Kim.  “I’m going to have the local police drive by the Rosenberg’s house.  Then, I’ll --”

“Sunnydale PD,” came a bored voice.  “Lieutenant Frank Burns.  How can I help you?”

Jack said, “Lt. Burns, my name is Jack Bauer.  I’m with the CTU in Los Angeles.  There may be a situation occurring in your city you need to be made aware of.”

“CTU?” Burns interrupted.  “What the hell is that?”

“Counter Terrorist Unit.  Lt. Burns, I have an urgent matter to discuss --”

“I’ve never heard of that.  Who is this again?”

“I’m Special Agent Jack Bauer of CTU.”

“Have you got a badge number or something I can use for verification?”

Jack took a deep breath.  Then he quoted his badge number.

There was a pause.  Burns grunted.  “Okay.  This looks legit if I’m reading this right.  Never had much use for these damned computers, but I guess they’re good for something.  Now, before you go off on your request, I’m here to tell you we don’t have any problems with terrorists.  We have many other problems, but terrorism isn’t one of them.  I’d like to keep it that way and so would Chief West.”

“Well, I’m sorry to break it to you, Lieutenant, but if my intel is correct, then you could have terrorists in your city.  That’s why I need a patrol to be sent to the Rosenberg place to check on them.  Our sources tell us that someone in that family - or all three of them - are going to be kidnapped.”

“By terrorists.”

“Yes.”

“Why would terrorists want to do that?”

“I don’t know yet.  Can you get somebody to drive to their place and have a look?”

“And what are they looking for?”

“Anything suspicious.”

“Define suspicious.”

Jack was trying hard not to lose his temper.  “Could you just do it?  We’re on our way, but we won’t be there for another twenty-five minutes or so.  If you could just have them take a look and call me back, I’d appreciate it.  Can you do that?”

“Sure.  Why not?  I’ll get right on that for you, Special Agent Bauer.  Is there anything else I can do for you?”

“No.”

“Fine.  Then…I’ll see what I can do and call you back.”

Jack closed his cell phone and put it away.

“That sounded like it didn’t go well,” Kim observed.

Jack sighed with frustration.  “Yeah.  The son-of-a-b***h sounded like I was wasting his time.”  He glanced at his daughter.  “Sorry.”

“We’ll get there, dad.”

“But will we get there in time?”

_______

9:37

“This really blows,” Xander said as he, Buffy and Willow walked down the street.  “I mean, since when does a school night not blow?  Wouldn’t it be okay if we just skipped school tomorrow?  We could go find another place to visit so we could watch you do your thing.  You know, that thing you do…with the thing.”  He mimicked staking a vampire by bringing his fist down several times, slashing at the air.

“Xander, we can’t skip school,” Willow protested.  “That would be wrong.  And besides, I have a test in Math class, which I’m sure you do, too…since you’re in my Math class.  So, no, no skipping.”

“Can’t blame a guy for trying, can ya?”

Buffy grinned at him.  “I think we can blame you because you don’t know how to quit.  Always trying to get out of anything that has to do with earning a grade.”

Xander shrugged.  “Oh, I don’t mind earning a grade.  It’s all that other stuff that goes with it that I mind.  Like studying and homework.  And anything that has to do with numbers.”

“Xander,” Willow began, glancing at him with concern, “tell me you’re ready for the test tomorrow.”

Xander didn’t reply.

“Did you at least look at the notes I left you?”

“You left notes?”

“Xander!”

Buffy couldn’t help it.  She laughed.

“This isn’t funny, Buffy.  Hey, you’re having the same test, too.  Are you ready for it?”

She held up her hands defensively.  “I’ll be as ready as I can for it, Will.  Trust me.  I don’t like numbers either, because what do they have to do with vampires unless you have to keep track of how many you’ve dusted?  Anyway, I’m not as bad as Xander.  I’ll be ready for it.”

“What do you mean you’re not as bad as me?” Xander inquired.  “You don’t even like to read.”

“I like to read.”

“The Firemen And Their Shiny Red Trucks Calendar doesn’t count.”

They arrived at Willow’s house and said their goodnights.  Willow promised to see them in the morning at school and then she stood on her front step.  She watched her two best friends as they headed down the street.  Then, thinking of Xander and his math problems, she opened the door and went into her house.

_______

9:40

Mulder felt like he was getting his second wind back.  He was in his rental car driving on the Interstate.  In an hour, he hoped to be in his hotel room.  As he drove, he snacked on Sunflower seeds and drank coffee.  He had the window open so he could get more awake then he felt and the radio was blasting out a tune from the Beatles.  He thought back to his conversation with Dana Scully on the phone before he was dropped off at the airport.

He had told Scully what he was up to, at least some of it.  She was teaching a class for the FBI in Los Angeles so he didn’t think it would be a problem for her to meet him in Sunnydale.  She had said no and hung up on him.

His cell phone rang.

He answered.  “Rusty’s Morgue.  You stab ‘em, we slab ‘em.”

Scully’s voice simply said, “Mulder, I hate you.”

Then, she ended the call.

Mulder grinned as he put his phone away.  He knew that Scully would be meeting him at his hotel, even if she didn’t sound happy about it.

_______

9:42

A Sunnydale police car drove along the streets but the officers inside saw nothing suspicious.  They drove by the Rosenberg house twice and noticed nothing wrong.  They called it in to Lieutenant Burns who told them to go about their business.  He had intended to call the CTU agent with what his officers found - which was nothing - and decided against it.

“That son-of-a-b***h has wasted enough of my time,” he growled as he placed his feet up on his desk and picked up his magazine.  He made no move to reach for the phone.

_______

9:45

The house was quiet.  Willow hated walking into a quiet house.  After Buffy and Xander had walked her home and left, she stood in the living room with the closed door behind her.  She listened to the sounds of the house, which should have been familiar, but there was something missing.  She didn’t hear her Mom or her Dad.  She didn’t hear their voices.  She didn’t hear them moving around.  She had been under another false assumption that her career-driven parents were going to be home when she came in.

Again, she was wrong.

It almost made her cry, but she was getting used to it.  She stood there, took a few deep breaths and moved into the kitchen for something to eat.  She went to the refrigerator, opened it and saw some left over spaghetti.  She took it out and placed it on the counter.  As she was getting a plate from the cupboard, she noticed the blinking light on the answering machine.  She pressed play and continued to prepare her late supper.

A few of the calls on the machine were work related.  Three for her father.  Two for her mother.  The last one was a surprise.  It was from Kim Bauer.  As Kim’s voice came over the machine, Willow turned from what she was doing and listened.

She hadn’t seen Kim in a long time.  It had almost been two years when she went with her parents to Terri Bauer’s funeral.  Kim had always been the older sister to her on the summers she and Terri had visited them.  Willow had tried to be there for Kim during the funeral…but she was too young.  And she couldn’t help.  Kim had closed up.

Officially, they were not related.  But they had been close…until after the funeral.

But now Kim had called and left a message.  Kim and her father were on their way to her house.  Willow wanted to hear the message again.  She was about to press play again when a shadow fell upon her.  With relief, she realized that her parents were home after all.

Smiling, she turned.  “Mom!  Dad!  Kim is…”  She stopped.

Neither her Mom nor her Dad were in the doorway of the kitchen.  It was someone else.

_______

9:48

Jack was on the field so Tony decided to use Jack’s office until he returned.  The office was directly above the Command Center and afforded a clear view of the staff hard at work.  He sat at Jack’s computer and pulled up every pertinent detail involving the missing nuclear device and the man responsible for taking it.  He pulled up the file and studied the face of the terrorist on his screen.

Darwyn Musad.  

Darwyn Musad was the charismatic leader of the terrorist cell responsible for stealing a nuclear device.  He was more well-known as "The Speaker", one of his many aliases.  He was a former member of the Saudi Arabian National Guard.  From 1987 to 1989, he fought the Soviets during the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan.  He later returned to Riyadh after he was wounded, and later fought in the Gulf War, on the Kuwait's side, along the American forces.  After the war, he trained Mohamed Aidid's men in Somalia during the Somali Civil War.  Following this, he fought alongside the Bosnian mujahideen in Bosnia, where he met and saved his right-hand man, Rueben Julius - a cold-blooded killer - and then fought alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan after he met Osama bin Laden.  Later he ran an Afghan training camp for Al-Qaeda.  In America, he worked in a security company as a Jewish man named Yossi Amran...and that led him to eventually get his hands onto a nuclear device.

He liked to be known as “The Speaker” because he simply liked to talk.  Whether it was the sound of his own voice or a play on the dramatics, he spoke to his victims before, and during their torture.  He spoke to them until he executed them or had them executed.  His right hand man was a mystery.  There wasn’t much known about Julius before he had crossed paths with Musad.  He was Italian but claimed to be a direct descendant to Augustus Caesar.  One fact was known…he enjoyed taking lives with his bare hands.

There was a knock on the door and then it opened before Tony responded.  Michelle entered and approached the desk.

“We have an ID on the man you brought in,” she told him.

Curious, Tony looked up at her.  “Who is it?”

“His name is Youmud.  Youmud Musad.”  She paused.  “It’s Darwyn’s younger brother.”

He sat up.  “How soon will he be ready for interrogation?”

“It won’t be long now.  About twenty minutes.  They’re patching him up.”

Tony nodded.  “Great.  Maybe in twenty minutes, we can get some more answers.”

_______

9:52

“I really hate tests,” Xander said as he and Buffy stopped in front of the Harris house.  “And tests kind of have a thing for me, you know?  They know I’m going to fail, so eventually I do.”

Buffy shook her head.  “Xander, with that kind of an attitude, you’re bound to fail.”

“Buffy, I’ve had this dream…”

“Yeah, I know.  You on a cloud wearing a toga, surrounded by seven gorgeous women bound to your eternal love.  I’ve heard this one before.”

Xander shook his head.  “Not that dream…though that is my all time favorite.”  He never told her that she was one of those gorgeous women in his dreams.  He had to take a deep breath before proceeding.  “In this other dream, which is not so very pleasant, I am on an island that looks suspiciously like an algebra book.”

Buffy rose her eyebrows.  “This island is…a book?”

“Yes, and there are people on this booky island, but they’re numbers and they carry swords that look like pencils.  They want me to become like them, but I can’t…so they tie me to a giant chalk eraser with giant rubber bands.  Then, they are about to draw all aver me with their pencil-like swords…and that’s when I wake up.”

“And why are you telling me this?”

“Because I want you to go into math class for me and slay the teacher before it’s too late!”

“Xander, I can’t slay a teacher.  Unless that teacher is a creature of the night, I have a strict hands-off policy against slaying living things.”

Xander sighed.  “Well…I had to try.”

“Sorry.  There’s no way you’re going to avoid that test tomorrow.  Unless something sneaks up on either of us and stops us in our tracks, our fates are sealed.”

Xander nodded.  He bowed his head and turned to go into his house.  “Well…I’ll see you tomorrow.  Willow’s gonna call, so I’d better get in there or she’ll think we’re doing something.”

Buffy nodded thoughtfully.  When she realized what he had said, she frowned.  “Wait!  What will Willow think we’re doing if you miss her call?”

Xander didn’t respond.  He was already inside.  Sighing, Buffy determined to get an answer from him in the morning.  She turned to go and walked right into…him.  He didn’t budge as she walked into him. Instead, he calmly watched her as she backed up a step to face him.  A lot of emotions crossed her face, but she finally got a hold of them and regained her composure.

“Angel…” she said.

Angel, who bore no expression on his face, looked into her eyes.  “Buffy…”  Then, before she could say anything, he said, “There’s a bad moon on the rise.”

_______

9:57

Sunnydale was a busy place.  Vampires and other things that went bump in the night continued to terrorize the innocent, but some of them had gone into hiding as if they knew something was coming.  On the major interstate, two vehicles were enroute to Sunnydale, one an FBI agent from Washington; the other two CTU agents from Los Angeles.  Mulder drove at a normal speed which would place him at his hotel within the hour, or perhaps less.  Jack, however, had increased his speed due to his agitation at the lack of cooperation from the local police.  As Kim prayed for a safe journey and pressed herself into her seat, Jack pulled the SUV off the Interstate, entering into the city limits of Sunnydale.

As Buffy faced Angel and his cryptic message, Xander laid back on his bed, thinking about the math test.  He turned his head once, glancing at the phone which never rang.  He wondered if Willow had simply decided to go to bed, but it was not like her not to call.

Spike gave up on trying to get Drusilla to enjoy her treats.  It bothered him that she kept seeing things that weren’t there and she was quite adamant that something wicked was coming this way.

Tony and Michelle were heading out of the office to check on their prisoner, Youmud Musad.  Tony was hoping the interrogation was ready because there was a lot they needed to know if they were going to be any help to Jack and Kim.

Then, there was Willow.  Bound hand and foot and gagged.  She was draped over the massive shoulders of Rueben Julius, a terrorist.  He stood beside Darwyn Musad, the Speaker, as they watched the bound forms of Ira and Sheila Rosenberg on the floor in the living room of the Rosenberg Residence.

“I thank you for your hospitality,” Musad said to the helpless parents of Willow.  “You have been most helpful to what I seek and I assure you, you will no longer be allowed to suffer on this earth.”  He looked at the two men across the room.  “After Julius and I are gone with the girl…kill the parents.  They are of no further use to us.”

With that, he turned and walked out the door.  Julius followed after him, carrying Willow as if she were nothing but a feather.  She groaned and struggled, but there was no way she could escape.  Her eyes widened as she looked into the gagged faces of her parents one last time before she was out of the house, the door closing with a finality that scared her.  As Willow was trying to process that she would never see her parents again, she was placed into a trunk.  She stared up, trying to scream into her gag.

Julius’ leaned down toward her.  “Welcome to hell, child,” he said.

Then, the trunk slammed shut, trapping her inside.

9:59:57

9:59:58

9:59:59

10:00

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