Title: Shattered Soul
Author: Cindy Ryan
Category: Angst, work in progess
Spoilers: All episodes
Summary: When Emily becomes the hostage how far will Matt go to bring her home?
Notes: Only my second Standoff fic so bare with me. All mistakes are mine, not beta'd. If I have a name wrong or something else obvious please let me know.

For most people phone calls at three a.m. would be a frightful, worrisome thing. But for FBI agent Matt Flannery they were normal. For him to be asleep at three a.m. was the unusual thing.
Groggily the dark haired young man groped in the darkness for his cell phone laying on the night stand. His fingers finally closed around the tiny object and Matt flipped the device open before bringing it to his ear.

"Flannery."Matt greeted his eyes still closed as he rested his head against the pillow.

When only silence answered him, Matt tried once more. "Flannery."

Then a loud beep resounded signaling that he had a waiting message. Matt sighed and reached over and flipped on the light. Then he hit the correct keys on the phone to call up the message which turned out to be a photo.

/Strange./Matt thought wondering who on earth could be sending him a picture at this time of day. But then again Emily could be awake and bored in her hotel room in Vegas where she was attending a training conference.

Then the photo filled the screen and Matt's blood turned ice cold. It was a picture of his partner, unconscious, bound and gagged and wearing nothing but a bra and underwear.

"Oh my God."Matt whispered as he continued to stare at the picture unable to move, unable to breathe.

Finally Matt's training kicked in and he grabbed his landline phone to call his boss. Just as his fingers touched the receiver, it rang.

Matt snatched the phone up knowing from years of experience who it was.

"I want to know what it'll take to get her back."Matt stated his words angry and clipped.

In a dingy hotel room, Sam Ellis chuckled as he laid his gun on the bed he was seated on. He absently twirled it around.

"You can't bargain your way out of this one."Sam replied. "She ruined my life...took my life away. She took Kari away."

The pieces clicked and Matt swallowed hard knowing full well who was on the other end. It'd been three months since Sam Ellis had gone to prison for multiple bank robberies and felony murder.

"How did you escape?"Matt asked as he fought to keep his emotions under control. "San Quentin is maximum security."

Mark laughed. "There's always a way out. Your lovely partner was my last unfinished business."

"What do you want?"Matt asked as he stood and moved to the window.

"For you to suffer."

"Damn."Matt swore as he found himself listening to the dial tone.

"Lea's running a trace on your home phone and your cell."Cheryl Carerra reported as she walked into the bull pen of CNU's main office.

Matt looked up from the area behind his desk that he'd been pacing. "I want to go to the prison, talk to his cell mate, the warden, the guards."

Cheryl shook her head inwardly preparing for a tough battle. She drew Matt aside away from the prying ears of Frank and Duff.

"I've broken enough rules for you, Matt. I just can't on this one. We're too close to this. She's one of us. They're not going to let us work it."

"Don't give me that crap, Cheryl!"Matt shouted as he slammed his fist down onto the divider between his desk and the next. "You can fight it if you wanted to. This is Emily, we're talking about. Ellis is nuts...a cop killer. He killed that deputy without blinking!"

"Washington has good agents flying out to work this."

Matt shook his head, his world was crumbling and she didn't see it. "They'll get here too late. Emily needs us, now. We know Ellis. She left for that conference yesterday morning. He could've grabbed her anywhere between here and Vegas."

"How did she know she was going?"Frank asked as he leaned against his desk.

"That's what we need to find out."Cheryl replied quietly. "He was gone from San Quentin for at least a day before anyone noticed he was gone. That would've given him enough time to know her routine."

Matt turned pleading eyes on his boss. "We can't wait for Washington."

Cheryl sighed as she glanced at the clock on the wall, ten after three. "Matt, you've got four maybe five hours before they get here from D.C. That's all I can give you."

Flannery nodded at his former partner before he turned to his two colleagues. "Let's go."

Cheryl watched the men leave wishing she was going with them. Some days being in an administrative position just sucked. She could only pray that Emily was alive when they found her or this unit would never be the same.
Matt Flannery would never be the same.