He silently made his way down the hallways. He gave each person he passed a simple nod if they tried to talk to him; there had been a sense of urgency to the call that usually wasn't there. They always cared about apprehending the criminals, but something about the tone made the request to come in more personal than usual.
He turned the doorknob and entered the room.
The woman at the desk before him got to her feet, holding out a thin file as she approached him. She didn't remove her hands for several seconds after he had grabbed onto the file. It was almost as if she didn't want him to see the contents.
She finally removed her hands. It was a missing person's report. On a normal day, he would be relieved. Those who were kidnapped were typically easy to find if he searched hard enough. But he knew that something was far different about this case from the way that she was acting.
With shaking fingers, he opened it.
His vision was quickly blurred by the tears streaming down his face.
The woman made her way back to her desk. “The higher ups have already informed your family.” As she typed something into her laptop, he somehow managed to walk over to her. His stomach was twisting and turning.
“They've just sent a video to your email. I checked for viruses or anything remotely malicious, but it seems to be safe.” She opened the file. The mouse hovered over the play button. “You don't have to watch it if you don't want to, Arthur,” she whispered.
He finally found the strength to speak. “I have to. Please press play.”
He stared at the bruised and bloodied face on the screen; it barely looked his baby brother's anymore. His beautiful blue eyes were filled with tears as he stared despairingly into the camera. “Br-Brother, I'm scared!” he sobbed.
Arthur sat down in front of the screen and stared at the video.
“I-I just wanted to s-see y-you.”
He appeared to be in some sort of small room. There was no windows, and the lighting was dark. He couldn't make out any other details beside his brother and the chair that he was tied to.
“Th-they said that if y-you d-don't cooperate, they're g-going to kill m-me. And th-that they're g-going to s-send mo-more messages t-to you.”
Then the terror in his brother's eyes suddenly cleared, and was replaced by a look of determination that he recognized all too well. It had all been a facade that he had picked up on the moment his brother had spoken. His brother was a Kirkland, and Kirklands never gave up. “I'm not sure where I am, but they took me here by car after I came through-”
Someone swore, and the video abruptly ended.
He wiped his tears away. If Peter wasn't going to give up, he wasn't either.
