What can I say?  You are a very talented writer.   

Thank You ! Thank You ! You are too kind !

More than 3 weeks, but at least an update !

Oh, wow.   
That's all can say.  And "Keep up the great work!"   

Phenomenal.

It's funny how easy they make it look in the movies. You run away from home, scout for a job, you get a job, make ends meet, prince in shining armour comes looking for you, visits the place you are working in, you recognise each other, balloons and hearts go off, you rejoice and live happilly ever after.

If it only were the movies.

It wasn't easy finding a job, she had to choose the worst time ever to run away. No jobs, definitely none for a young woman too reluctant to share her details and go down the wrong way. Yet she did get one in the end. She found herself scrubbing the floors of a mall in some one road town. It was even smaller than Riverdale.

"Make sure you get all the stains out !"

That was her gruffy boss, a huge 50-something with loud makeup, perhaps it was a saving grace that she was a woman who did not care too much for a young woman who could have been Miss Universe if she put her heart into it. At least she did not have to deal with snide remarks. That was left for all the mall rats who skipped school and lazed around in the mall all day.

It could turn nasty someday, really nasty.
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He probably felt like some old western hero, riding off into the sunset. It didn't last for long, apart from the halts he had to make for gas and to pick up supplies, and the numerous detours he took on hunches, it was straight south. If he kept it up for probably another month, he would be in every town and village till the Keys. He had to be careful with the money, he had some kept away from his scholarship money, spending it on gas, car jobs now and then and his broadband. He hardly ate, growing more and more gaunt everyday. He saved by sleeping in the car, at least saves on the motel bills, he reasoned.

"Nopes, never saw her."

"That your girl ?"

"Who's she ?"

"I think I saw someone like that........"

The last were the worst, false hopes, sudden bursts of optimism, all frittered away when he tried to follow the leads, all of them drew a blank.

Maybe the TV and the net would have better luck.

They broadcast her pics and short videos when she was gone for a month. People called in from all over the country and Canada too, no luck still. It was as if she had vanished.

He still didn't give up hope.
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Reggie couldn't stop patting himself on the back when it all started. Serves her right, Miss Goody Two Shoes. He was in splits when he heard how Jug and his dad practically fought over Betty and that Mr. and Mrs. Jones had already filed for divorce. Serves them right for screwing up my life !

Mrs. Cooper's near depression wasn't a thing to be laughed at though, he didn't like to see Betty cry really. And the fact that Betty was missing now for well over two months wasn't helping matters either. After all, he didn't go through all this just to get back at them, he wanted to win back what was rightfully his, Betty as his own.

And that's why he wanted to track her down too.

"I need the best pros on this job ! I don't care who you get as long as they can ferret her out !" Reggie barked into the intercom while lunching.

"Yes Sir !" His secretary assured him and then got dutifully down to her job, making calls, pulling up the best trackers in the business, negotiating rates, setting deadlines.

Reggie wanted to find Betty too, it's just that Jug did it while living off Dollar Store stuff while Reggie supped on caviar.
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Chick Cooper hated himself, today he wished he was his own boss. There was no one, practically no one in the world the agency couldn't track down in a matter of days. He himself homed in on some of the most wanted desperadoes internationally. And yet, here he was, elder brother of a woman, missing for two months now with the police unable to make any headway on her case. There was no way the CIA would take up her case, unless it concerned homeland security or Al-Qaeda or something like that.

He had the tools, the resources, all at his hands and there he was unable to use it for something he loved more than anything else in this world : his kid sister.
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Polly Cooper didn't leave any stone unturned, she buzzed all her contacts, requesting, pleading with them to bring out the journalistic equivalent of an all points bulletin. People sympathised with her, offerred to hack into police systems to find out what they were really upto, suggesting leads and possible searches.

The fact that Polly was a journalist with more than 10 years behind her didn't help matters sometimes. She had seen all types, almost, and it chilled her to the bone that some of the most likeliest of cases could have happenned to her sister.

Body at the bottom of a lake ? Chopped up and fed to dogs or pigs ? Walled into a new basement ?

The possibilities were limitless.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Riverdale is a small city, it's not that it didn't have it's share of crises but they were few and far in between. The Riverdale police had to deal with at most one incident a month, and that too if they were lucky. Traffic violations were the most common but then no one or nothing is perfect.

That's why the Jones' affair was big news. Their friends asked them to work it out. The Coopers had withdrawn from almost everything after Betty, they were visited by friends now and then. Mrs. Andrews and Mrs. Jones would visit her often, they did all they could to comfort her and lift her spirits.

But then it wasn't their children who had run away.
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"You never told me how you felt."

"Told you about what ?" the old man asked.

"When he left, why didn't you stop him ?"

The old man shrugged his shoulders "It was his decision. He knew what he was doing."

"Are you angry ?"

"No, Prof. Johnson." the old man said "He only has to open the packet."

"Packet ?"
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Sabrina dropped out of everyone's radar after her curiosities about the old man were satiated. She was convinced now that he did not possess any magic, yet had gifts which great wizards were afraid of.It was natural therefore that she would not know of Betty's predicament.

Fair weather friends ?
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Betty found shelter in a run down apartment, no heating, lousy lighting, toilets, bedbugs, the works. She got it cheap, plus the door at least closed tight. She had hardly much to call her own, her clothes, some diaries and a few pens. She left everything else, including her laptop at college. They found their way to the police evidence store and would be released to the Coopers in due course.

Not that it would be a great comfort for them.
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Chick made his decision, he couldn't do anything on his own, nor with the agency;s resources. Still he had his contacts, his own "Lone Gunmen". These were a rag tag band of social outcasts who operated in the gray area between legal and illegal activities. Hacking, pushing drugs, pimps, stuff like that. They usually had contacts all over the world, maybe they could help.

And so it was that he found himself outside a steel door in an alley somewhere in Portland. He made a call.

"You there, Ringo ?"

"What do you want ?" A gruff voice asked.

"I need your help."

"Why is it only when you need me that you turn up ?"

"Ringo, this is important." Chick said patiently.

The voice was silent, after some time it said "Come in."

Chick pushed the door and went in, he climbed down into a basement and went past rows after rows of crates stacked high, in a dingy corner, a man bent over double before two screens typed away like crazy.

"Good Morning, Ringo." Chick said.

A gun clicked behind Chick, "Don't move." a thin voice said "You may be CIA but I am ex-Seal."

"It's ok, Joe." Ringo said, his eyes never off from the screens, "He is good."
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Many people told him that it was madness to throw away the opportunity of a lifetime over a lost love. Especially when it was his first. Don't worry, they said, you will get more. Many more.

Perhaps that's what he believed once too, that love is a commodity which can be purchased like everything else. That love for other people was like food to him, an essential commoditty which they could not do without. That was before he fell in love himself.

When did exactly he fall in love ? Looking back now, it's as if he was always in love, love at first sight, they say. His obsession with food an attempt to cloak his feelings for her. Perhaps it was the day she first cooked for him, maybe the day she first stood up for him, maybe the day he first held her in his arms, it was unintentional, she slipped thanks to really slippery shoes.

Or maybe it was the day he first saw her when the Coopers moved into Wittenburg Drive, all those years ago.

Maybe she can tell him, if he ever finds her that is.
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The anaemic eyes were wide in wonder at Chick, even long after he finished his story. Chick was alert, he had to be. Ringo wasn't always the brightest when it came to society and Joe behind his back with the sub machine gun didn't make him exactly comfortable. Still, he was a trained and field-hardened CIA agent, he had seen worse.

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha !"

Everything except that !

The outburst of mirth was so sudden that it threw Chick into a moment of panic, just a moment thankfully, it didn't affect jow but his eyes were on Chick and it interpreted the slight jerk in Chick's body as an offensive move, his fingers tensed on the trigger.

"Ho, ho-ho, ho-ho-ho ! You are a comedian ! A regular one, Agent Cooper !" Ringo said, turning back to face his screen.

"So you can't help me ?" Chick asked.

"Hmmm....dee...dee...daa" Ringo hummed "Sorry, Agent Cooper. Helping you for wanted criminals is one thing, this is personal, I don't do personal."

Chick expected as much, he knew bargaining with Ringo would be futile and dangerous. If he did inform the agency or DHS that he was contacted by Chick to ferret out his kid sister, they would have his head. The System was aware of wildcards like Joe and Ringo. They were tolerated because of the benefits they provided from time to time in terms of 'quasi-legal' covert operations.

"Well then, thanks for listenning, Ringo." Chick got up and turned around to leave.

"Agent Cooper !" Ringo called, Chick stopped in his tracks.

"You really love your baby sister, don't you, Agent Cooper ?" Ringo asked, his fingers flying away on the keyboards.

"Of course, Ringo." Chick answered, wondering where this was heading.

Ringo licked his lips "We are not exactly friends, Agent Cooper, but I understand how it feels to lose a member of the family." he paused, banged the enter key and turned around "I think I know someone whom you have met, who can help."

Chick read the letters on the screen, his eyes wide in surprise.

I think I see where this is going!  (Well, Chick's side, at least.)   

Outstanding work!  I can't wait for the next chapter.   

Glad that you do, Zach 

I always thought that I was getting too nerdy and technical in this fic, however, I am going through Steig Larrson's Millenium trilogy right now. They are geeky as hell and still bestsellers.

So, I can rest easy