Chapter 15:

The last week of the shooting was exciting. The slight tension among the actors seemed to be gone. Everyone was in a good mood and anxiously waiting the filming of the ‘last’ scene. The actors knew there would probably be additional voice-overs and a variety of other details that had to be taken care of before the film was ready to be released, but 95% of the actors jobs was completed until promotional appearances were needed.

The Hanson family was excited about returning to Tulsa. Living in Los Angeles was fun, but Tulsa was home. Taylor was excited about returning home to get his drivers’ license. Zac was excited to return home to his friends and tell them about all the movie and television stars he’d met while roaming around the studio lot. He had a whole album of digital pictures put together on his computer of himself and the stars that he had taken with his trusty digital camera that had become part of his daily costume in getting dressed. Zac had gotten into the habit of wearing khakis camping pants with many pockets because his pockets were full of batteries. Although he loved his camera, the electronic device ate batteries and it used a chunk of his allowance just feeding it. Ike was the only member of the family that was not looking forward to going home. In the three and a half months that they had been working in California he had become very attached to Jenny Williams, and envisioned himself in love with her. 

Ike, Taylor and Zac had been enclosed inside the trailer most of morning and for the first time in a couple of days they were feeling productive musically. ‘It’ was happening. It was one of those rare times when everything flowed perfectly. A couple of times Taylor was paged to go to the set. Ignoring the groans and moans from Ike and Zac, he ran to the set and each time he returned with a grin after just a few minutes because something had gone wrong and they weren’t ready for him. They would pick up immediately where they left off. They got another thirty minutes in before Taylor was paged again.

"Ignore it," Zac yelled.

"You know I can’t," Taylor exclaimed making a run for the door and he was gone.

Taylor ran into the studio but before he got to the set, Eddie was waving him off again. 

"Sorry, we can’t get the lighting straight. The cables keep slipping." 

‘Okay by me," Taylor exclaimed and he turned on his heel to return to the trailer. As he stepped outside the studio door he had to move sideways because a van was partially blocking the doorway. A small dark haired woman was lifting a large box out of the box. The box slipped sideways and Taylor stepped forward to grab the corner to keep it from hitting the concrete pavement. As he was bending down he didn’t see the man step from behind the van door with a cloth in his hand. The cloth was pushed over his nose and mouth and Taylor struggled for three seconds before he slumped forward rendered unconscious by full strength ether. The man tossed him into the back of the van and then he turned and he and the woman picked up and tossed the box in behind him. The woman jumped into the back and the man closed the doors and walked to the front of the van and with a quick look around he got into the drivers seat and drove off.

* * * *

Ike and Zac waited for five minutes expecting their brother to pop through the door at any second. When he didn’t show up, Ike shrugged his shoulders. 

"Looks like our luck just ran out. They’re keeping him this time. Let’s work on the chorus until he gets back." Ike suggested.

Zac slid off his stool and went over behind the keyboard. Keyboard wasn’t his favorite instrument but he was better then most people thought. They worked right through the lunch hour expecting any minute for Taylor to appear or to call them through the intercom that the filming was complete. An hour later the intercom crackled as it often did, just before the voice could be heard.

"Taylor we need you on the set. Five minutes."

Ike and Zac exchanged surprised looks. 

"Where did he take off too?" Ike grumbled setting down his guitar. He took off out the door and Zac was on his heels. 

Ike strolled into the studio to find everyone finishing up on their lunch break. 

Eddie Grant threw the rest of his meal in the trash. "Where’s Taylor?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing," Ike said. "We haven’t seen him in about two hours, since you called him out the last time."

Eddie looked puzzled. "We didn’t use him on the last call. We couldn’t get the lights fixed. He went right back out."

"He didn’t come back to the trailer," Zac exclaimed. "Where’d he go?"

"I have no idea," Eddie said. "Maybe took a walk or went to visit another set."

"Sometimes we go over to Lot 3 to see Heather," Zac suggested.

"Well that’s as good a guess as any," Ike said. "Let’s go see if we can find him."

"We need him back here as soon as possible. We have a lot of work to catch up on," Eddie ordered.

Ike and Zac walked over to Lot 3 but no one had seen their brother. 

"Ike where did Tay go?" Zac asked.

"How am I supposed to know?" Ike said. "I missed my mind reading class today."

"Very funny," 

"I know he has some of explaining to do," Ike said. 

They walked back to the set and Eddie Grant and Phil Montrose looked up expectantly. 

"Where’s Taylor?" Phil demanded.

"We don’t know," Ike said shaking his head. "We haven’t seen him for over two hours."

"He didn’t tell you where he was going?" Phil demanded.

"I told you, we haven’t seen him," Ike repeated.

"We can’t afford these delays," Phil exclaimed.

"Tay, has never caused any delays," Ike refuted. "In fact this isn’t like him at all. He almost always tells someone where he’s going."

‘Well, he forgot this time," Phil exclaimed. "Would you keep looking for him?"

Ike and Zac circled around the surrounding lots several times and talked to people they knew. No one had seen their brother.

"Find him yet?" Eddie Grant asked as they came back inside the studio. 

"No, and I think we should call security," Ike suggested. "Tay doesn’t do stuff like this, he’s really responsible."

"Give him another half hour. He’ll show up," Eddie said with confidence.

Ike and Zac kept searching. They checked every dressing room, and every closet and still no Taylor. Thirty minutes later Ike reported back to Eddie Grant and Phil Montrose and this time he wasn’t taking a no for an answer.

Now they were all worried. Eddie called security and Ike called his parents.

* * * *

"What do you mean he’s missing?" Walker demanded of anyone who had the nerve to answer him.

"I’m sure he’ll turn up," Phil Montrose assured the overwrought parent. "Maybe he has been accidentally ‘locked down’ in another studio."

"For three hours?" Diana demanded.

Phil Montrose was very tempted to respond "Not likely," since lock down rarely lasted more than half hour at a time, but he didn’t have an alternative suggestion.

Studio security had been alerted and the privately trained officers had scattered to look for the missing teenager. They seemed to think he was off somewhere taking a nap or just holed up getting a little bit of private time. No one wanted to listen when Ike and Zac and later Walker and Diana all repeated that that scenario didn’t fit Taylor’s personality. Two hours later after the entire studio complex had been searched; the head of security finally made the decision to call the police. 

When the police arrived, a Detective Samuals and his colleagues questioned everyone in the studio again. Almost everyone saw Taylor leave the studio. But he not reached the trailer that was only twelve feet from the door. Detective Samuals took the report and discussed the possibility of listing Taylor under ‘Runaway’ status. Walker and Diana assured the Detective that their son was not a runaway. 

Wanting more details, Detective Samuals first took Ike and Zac aside separately and talked to them. Then he took Walker and Diana aside and spoke to them privately. Upon further questioning, the Detective began to get a clearer picture of Taylor’s close family ties and of his career achievements. When he asked about the family’s financial worth, he began to think about another scenario that was looming. A pessimist at best, Detective Samuals was hesitating to suggest what he considered the worst and most probable cause for his disappearance. But he knew he had to break the news. 

Addressing the family together, he dropped the news. "I suspect you are right. We are probably not dealing with a runaway situation. We are probably dealing with a abduction situation."

Diana gasped and leaned against her husband for support. Ike and Zac looked stunned and Ike crossed his arms over his chest and rocked back forth.

"Dad, I’m sorry," Ike said his voice breaking.

Walker put his arm around his son’s shoulder. "Son, this is not your fault."

"Yes, it is," Ike exclaimed. "I was in charge. I should have kept a better eye on him."

"Ike, Zac, both of you listen to me. All of you have been left pretty much on your own, since the filming started. I thought you were safe here inside the studio walls. Laying blame isn’t going to help. If it’s true, which we don’t know yet, we have to stand together." Walker said pulling himself out of his own shock and reassuring his sons.

"Mr. and Mrs. Hanson," Detective Samuals interrupted. "I going to leave my men here, let them keep looking and asking questions, but I need you to come with me. We need to keep a lid on this. I need to contact the FBI."

* * * *

Taylor tasted bile and he swallowed hard to keep it from rising into his mouth. His head was pounding and he was so scared he was sick. But, he couldn’t allow himself to be sick. As far as he could tell, his hands were tied behind his back and his feet and legs were bound together. There was something dark over his face, a hood or a sack of some kind and there was an oily tasting cloth gag tied tightly in and over his mouth. He could feel movement so he suspected he was in the back of the van. Moving where he didn’t know. All the lectures from his Dad and Mom came flooding back to him. They had drilled and drilled their children on what to do if someone tried to abduct them. But, they had counted on time. Time to scream. Time to fight. Time to draw some attention. He hadn’t had any time. It had happened so fast he hadn’t had time to think, or react, or fight. God, he hadn’t even had time to yell for help. Taylor felt the tears of helplessness rising. He twisted and struggled against his bonds but he got a forceful kick in his ribs for his effort. 

Taylor fell over on his side from a combination of a kick and the van pulling off the road sharply. He heard someone slam a car door and then he heard someone opening the back doors. Then he felt hands grabbing him by the forearms and pulling him forward.

The hood was pulled up off of his mouth and the gag was grabbed roughly and pulled down painfully.

"What’s your phone number?" a man’s voice demanded.

"No," Taylor croaked shaking his head.

"Kid, we can do this the easy way or we can do it the hard way," the voice growled.

Taylor’s head was slammed against the side of the van from the force of a blow to the side of his face. He moaned slightly, but the man grabbed him by the jaw with a huge hand and gripped his face tightly.

"Phone number, kid,"

"991-555-1212," Taylor croaked.

"Wise choice," the man said. 

Taylor could hear the numbers being punched into the phone. 

"Damn answering machine!" the man mumbled. When the message finished the man shoved the phone against the boy’s mouth. "Talk!" he demanded.

"Mom, Dad, it’s Tay," Taylor choked out.

The man snatched the phone away, "I’ve got your kid. If you want him back alive, don’t call the cops. It’s gonna cost you!" Then he pressed the power button and terminated the call. "Toss this in the lake," he ordered and passed it to his woman companion. He yanked the gag back up over Taylor’s mouth and pulled the hood back down over his face.

"Behave and I’ll leave you alone. Mess with me and I’ll hurt you bad. Got it?" the man ordered.

Taylor nodded and pulled his knees up to try to balance himself in a sitting position.

"Good," the man said ominously. "We know where we stand."

"Phones gone," the woman reported. 

"Good, we’ll keep driving around until dark and then we’ll take him to the house," the man ordered. "Stay back here with him and keep him quiet."

* * * *

The Hansons thought Detective Samuals was taking them to the police station, instead he drove them to their home. By the time they drove up to their house there were three unmarked vehicles parked along the side of the curb. 

Walker stopped the Federal agents at the porch and asked them to give him a few minutes so he could clear the baby-sitter out of way, and send the younger children upstairs so they could talk openly.

The FBI entered the house and looked around as if they were taking inventory. 

Agent Lee Curtis introduced himself to Diana and Walker and began asking questions immediately. He asked for a room that could be used as a command center and Walker led him and the rest of his men into the den. 

There were four FBI agents in the room. Another was questioning the baby-sitter and two more were on guard, one at the front and one at the back of the house. 

Agent Curtis was questioning Walker. Ike and Zac were separated and questioned individually by the agents. They were asked the same questions that the police had previously asked. 

Agent Curtis asked for a phone he could use and Walker indicated the phone on the desk. Walker punched the button for the answering machine and the first message came across the speaker. Message one, was from Christopher. Message two was from Walkers brother. Message three was from an agent. Message four was Taylor.

"Mom, Dad, it’s Tay," Taylor’s frightened voice came across the machine and the message continued.

Diana broke down in tears. Walker took his wife in his arms while his sons looked on stunned. Although the police, and the agents had been talking to them for hours about the possibility of kidnapping, now it was a fact. Zac looked like he about to burst into tears. Ike reached for younger brother and pulled him close although he was feeling pretty shaky himself. 

Agent Curtis was watching the family with the eyes of experience. He assessed that their reactions were genuine, although he wasn’t convinced the actual kidnapping was for real. Working in the Los Angeles area he’d been burned many times by show business families that would resort to just about any actions legal or otherwise to keep their names in the press. 

The senior agent popped the tape out of the machine and handed it to another agent. "We’ll need this for evidence. Set up a trace line on this phone."

‘What about that call?" Walker demanded.

"Probably made from a pay phone or cell phone," Mr. Curtis said. "We’ll have it traced as soon as possible. That call came in about two hours ago. Believe me, if anyone has your son, they are long gone from that location by now. They’ll call back."

"What do we do in the mean time?" Zac demanded.

"You do nothing," Mr. Curtis stated bluntly. "We set up shop."

* * * *

Taylor lay curled up against the side of the van. The rocking motion of the vehicle was almost soothing. Almost. His mind was whirl of activity. He didn’t recognize the voice of the man who had threatened him. He didn’t recognize the voice of the woman who was in the back of the van with him. Occasionally, she would mumble something and give him a vicious kick in the ribs. Taylor didn’t know what to do. His bonds were too tight to pull loose and because his head was covered he was disoriented. The van finally came to a stop and Taylor tensed. He heard metal clinking and screeching and then the van began to move again. This time the movement only lasted a few minutes and then it stopped again. The van doors were opened and he could hear the woman scooting out of the back. The side door was slid open and Taylor almost fell out since that was the wall of the van that he was leaning against. He was grabbed roughly and someone gripped him under the arms and dragged him across what felt like concrete and then up several stairs and across a doorway. He was dragged across a hollow sounding room and then shoved down to the floor. 

Taylor heard a ripping sound and hood was pulled up and the gag removed. It was replaced with a wide strip of duct tape. The hood was removed totally and while he was blinking in the dark room, several strips of tape were put over his eyes, and the hood jammed back over his head. His hands were untied from behind his back and pulled in front. It was a painful change because his arms had been behind his back for hours. He could feel them being taped together and then he heard the click of metal on his wrists. The same was done to his feet. Then he the clink of metal and he felt and heard the iron chains being woven around his arms and legs. 

During the whole time he was being bound, not a word was said between his abductors. Taylor heard hard-soled boots or shoes walking across the floor and then a door slammed. Once the door was shut he heard faint echoing footsteps and then a creaking sound as if they were lying down on a set of old fashioned bed springs. 

Taylor banged his head back against the wall in a fit of anguish and helplessness. He stopped, after several bangs because his head already was hurting so painfully and he knew he was only hurting himself. Moving around gingerly, Taylor finally determined that he was chained and handcuffed underneath a sink. Whether, it was a bathroom or kitchen he couldn’t tell. Of one thing he was sure. It leaked. There was a constant but steady sound of a drip echoing in the silence of the darkness. Taylor wiggled and twisted and was able to turn himself enough to be able to partially lie down although his arms are being held above him at an odd angle. It was the best he do. He tried to calm himself down and he turned to the only constant of his life that was available to him. He turned to prayer, desperately trying to drown out the almost silent sobs that were emitting from his throat.