****
The nearby Manhattan hotel Mary had arranged for them was small but well-appointed with the latest holographic entertainment and communications systems. Driscal stayed in an adjoining room and the sleepless Mary stood guard in the hallway, for what that was worth. Anyone that could dismantle a two-ton Stone-Coat would make very short work of diminutive Mary. But Driscal confidently claimed that whatever the kidnappers were after, it apparently wasn't just Ed Rumsfeld, Mary, and/or himself.
It was nearly midnight when Ed contacted Ann and asked the age-old question, "my place or yours?"
"Yours, Ed," Ann answered. "I want to see that fancy hotel room of yours."
Moments later a realistic holographic image of Ann appeared to be sitting next to him on the king-sized hotel bed. At the same time the image of the entire hotel room appeared in the Rumsfeld apartment for Mary to see. Just for the fun of it, they could alternatively appear to be in any of thousands of more scenic locations world-wide or even in space, and they could even add computer simulated holographic people for added drama. But not tonight.
"We've made some progress on the case but not enough yet," Ed began. "No sign yet of the girls, but no discouraging news about them either."
"Well, nothing new of significance has come to this apartment or me," said Ann. "Not a damn thing! I'm going crazy here! I've been in almost constant touch with the Feds, UN security, and the NYPD and they essentially won't tell me a damn thing!"
"I'm sorry I didn't come home tonight," said Ed. "I've been totally focused on finding Tracy and Mouse; or at least that's what Mary assures me that I've been doing. Driscal thinks that what we've been doing is a damn waste of time and I'm strongly inclined towards his view. However whatever merit our tour of CUNY has, we'll get about an hour jump on it in the morning by me staying here in South Manhattan tonight instead of coming home. Though maybe it doesn't much matter what I do personally. Armies of human, Stone-Coat, and jant resources are actually on the job. At least I've seen to that."
"Well at least with you involved I know that somebody is," said Ann. "You said something about progress?"
"We've gotten some more cryptic notes from the kidnappers and we have a prime suspect to look for, and we have jants, Stone-Coats, and maybe even mobsters looking for him and for the kids."
"And the Tribe is looking also," said Ann. "Over a thousand of them are searching out in this terrible cold, and two dozen of them are highly telepathic. But you say there's a suspect? Who?"
"A strange character named Egborg. I'm sure that by now Fred has image and voice files of him. Show her, Fred!"
A window opened in Ann's holographic hotel room image and a video of Egborg giving his presentation ran as a holographic video. It ended with several close-up views of Egborg.
Ann stood staring at the frozen images of Egborg in open-mouthed in astonishment. "But I've seen and heard him before in UN circles, I'm sure of it, though not using that name! I'll pass that information on to the UN security folks, the Feds, and the NYPD cops."
"Do you have all those folks on hand there at the apartment?" Ed asked.
"With Fred's cooperation they've collectively taken over the apartment building except for this particular apartment, and several other neighborhood buildings also. Cops of several flavors stop and search everyone and everything going in and out of the local neighborhood. Fred isn't happy and for sure our neighbors aren't happy, but they're cooperating. Many are not Mohawk, you know. There has been a strong Polish presence here for over a century and a half."
"We'll throw a huge Eagle Street block party when this is all over," said Ed. "With the kids as the guests of honor, of course. We'll include stuff from that polish bakery on Manhattan Avenue. All neighbors will be deliriously happy and several pounds heavier."
"Of course," echoed Ann, but it was clear that his attempted levity had fallen flat. Her holographic image seemed to shrink and fade a bit, and Ed could see tears run down her cheeks that she didn't bother to blot away. Ann was a strong woman, but she was also the mother of a kidnapped daughter.
Ed reflexively reached out to comfort her, but his hands passed through her holographic image uselessly. After giving her more hollow words of encouragement, he said goodnight. Yeah, he should have insisted on going home for the night. It bothered him greatly to be separated from Ann, Mark, and Sue at a time like this.
But it bothered him still more to be separated from Tracy. Good God, was she all right? What were his last words to her? Goodnight, probably, accompanied by a little hug.
Ed also phoned Mouse's parents to tell them what they already knew: the girls hadn't been found. They exchanged words of hope and encouragement, but even using the voice-only mode the despair felt by all of them was palpable.
He wasn't a religious man, but he again prayed anyway for Terry and for little Mouse long into the night after his phone calls ended.
Global Warming Fun 6: Ice Giants Make Manhattan Page 15