The Survivor

Chapter 39

It's been five weeks since Mace left. We were never able to find the car that took her and we can't find the guy that we think took her. On the bright side though, I'm getting married in two weeks.
John and I have found a house about ten minutes away from both of our parents. John's one brother is like three houses down from us. He recently got married, him and his wife recently had a little baby girl. They named her Natalie, after their grandmother.
Today we're unpacking everything into the new house. It's a three story, three and half bathroom. Five bedrooms, a big kitchen, and a game room down in the basement next to the bar. It's a cute brick house with a nice big backyard with an inground pool.
John and I are currently sitting at our table, seeing who's coming and who isn't. I just wish that Mace was here. I have her dress hanging up in our walk in closet. She never got to wear it, not that she wanted to. But I now understand why she didn't want to.
"You ok honey?" John asks, taking me out of my thoughts. "Yeah, just thinking about Mace," I tell him. He takes my hand in his and gives it a squeeze. "I know that this must be hard for you Addison. I'm sure she's ok. She gives everyone she meets hell." We both laugh at this.
"Don't you remember when she first met me?" He asks. I laugh and shake my head. "She was literally interrogating me. I can tell that you where annoyed at the time but, when you think about it, it was really sweet. She didn't want you to fall for someone that wasn't good enough for you. She actually said that she liked me!" John exclaims.
"Realy?" I ask in disbelief. "Well not to my face, but she basically did." We just laugh. "How's the rest of your family holding up?" He asks. "I don't really know. I haven't talked to them too much. With the wedding and all," I respond.
"Let's have them over for dinner tonight!" John exclaims. "You sure about that?" I ask. "Yeah, it'll be fun! I'll grill up some chicken and we can grab one of those bag salads that your mom likes," John plans out. I smile and nod.
"That sounds lovely," I tell him with a smile. "Great," he says standing up. He walks over to me and kisses me on the head. "I've gotta go to work. I'll call your parents," John says.
"Bye love," he calls out, leaving the room. Soon the door closes, signifying that he left. I smile to myself. "How did I get so lucky?" I ask myself. I can't wait till we're married.

Come 5:30, my family starts to show up. Starting with Tom and ending with Monica. We all sit at the table, talking about our days. "So, what did you do today Addison?" Mom asks. "I was planning for the wedding for a good chunk," I tell her. "You know, if you need help all you have to do is call and I'll be over in a heartbeat." "Thanks mom," I tell her. Trying to be nice, but I want to do this on my own.
"I remember when your father and I were planning out our wedding," she starts. Oh come on Mom. You tell this story every time you see me. "Mom, I love you but you told this to me eleven times," I remind her, not wanting to hear it for another time.
"I'm just helping you out," she says defensively. I really miss Mace. She was always good at getting people to shut up. I wish she would've taught me that.
We get through the night pretty easily. Thankfully, there was a lot of me squeezing John's hand and our secret eye glares. Once we get past the dessert that Jess brought, that's when the talk of Mace comes up.
"So, do we have any news yet on Mace?" Dad asks John. Jackson, John, and the general have all been working on trying to find her. "No, not yet," John responds in a sorrowful tone.
"Why did you guys adopt her?" I ask. Mom never showed her the love that she showed us. "Mace's mom went to high school with us," Dad answers. "The four of us were friends, at a point of time." "Four?" I ask Dad.
"Her father," Mom answers. "He wasn't like the man he is today. He was a lot kinder at that point," she adds. "What changed him?" Monica asks. I have always wondered this. "He was very close to his father. Once he died he wasn't the same. Later the year that his father died, he was fired from his job. He got into a gambling debt and things just went south from there," Dad explains.
"Her mother came to us about three weeks before she died. She asked if something were to happen to her, if we were able to take her in," Mom jumps in. "So we did. We knew that they weren't in the best relationship at the moment. Mace's mom told us that he would beat both of them. The night that her mother was shot, she was going to leave with Mace. We felt bad and took her in," Dad finishes.
"We owed her mother that," Dad says. There's a moment of silence. "Does Mace know this?" I ask. "No," Mom says. "So there's still nothing on Mace?" Dad asks John.
Right as he's about to answer his phone rings. "It's General Logan," John says with a confused expression. "Put him on speaker," I tell him. John answers the phone and puts it on speaker.
"We might have a clue on where Mace is," Logan says. "How?" John asks. "Someone was murdered in Iran in a village called Kandovan. President Rashid's right hand man, governor Zahar was there and was killed. We found tire tracks about five miles and by them was blood. We tried to follow the tire tracks but it was a dead end," Logan says.
"What makes you think that she was involved?" John asks. "Not too long ago a man called Akazen was killed. Along with the French's president's right hand man. All of these men were killed about a day apart. Not only that but they all knew Hassan," the general finishes.
"Also on all of the men that we found, they had a name branded on them," I hear Jackson add. "Khor Khoreh," he says. "What's that mean?" John asks. "It's like Iran's version of the boogeyman. Hassan said something about a project called the Looloo, or another name for Khor Khoreh," Jackson finishes.
"So you think Mace is behind these kills?" John asks. "Mace would never do that!" I bark. Both of the men sigh over the phone. "We think that it's bribery or something along those lines. We have nothing to prove it, it's all just a theory," Jackson says.
"Let's say it is her, what do we do?" Mom asks. "Jesus, is everyone on the phone?" The general says annoyed. "I don't know," Jackson says in a defeated tone. "As much as I hate to say it, we don't know what has happened to her in that time. Which means that it may come to a not so happy ending, for either side," Logan says. He means to kill her.