This is my first fan fiction…although the idea has been in my head for a VERY long time…

Originally posted on the 1800MISSING yahoo group!

Prologue

It is dawn in the FBI office, and everything is quiet. The streams of pink light play across the floor and the warm glow of orange lights up the window panels. But there isn't any one there to see the sunrise, at least not anyone who is there legally.

No one from the missing person's task force is there yet; even Pollock's office is dark. So dark, in fact, that one lone shadow darting across the room isn't picked up by the cameras. So dark and so empty that the shadow escapes the office, armed and dangerous with newly gained and ill gotten information. The shadow climbs in his car and speeds out of the garage, flipping through the personnel folder for an address. The shadow knows what it wants, what it needs to complete its mission, and it's eyes zero in on an address. The car screeches around the corner and the folder slides off the seat and in to the corner, revealing the picture of a young woman with brown hair and green eyes before the car swerved again and the picture slipped under the seat.

Chapter 1

Nicole Scott paced up and down the hallways before the elevators, her eyes fixated on the steel doors. It wasn't like her to worry about anyone but herself, and she wasn't quite sure how she felt about it, but nonetheless she was worried. Jess had yet to come in this morning, and it was already ten o'clock. That wasn't like Jess, wasn't like her at all. They had only been partners for a year, but Nicole knew how much Jess loved to follow the rules, and surely Quantico mentioned something about calling ahead if you were going to be out sick. Especially when there is a big case to be solved, a case that involves the escape of a man that could put hundreds of lives at risk. A man that had played a major part in getting Jess herself shot just last year.

"Hey." Nicole sighed and barely turned around as she nodded her head, her eyes still locked on the door. Antonio didn't understand how worried Nicole was, he thought that Jess had just overslept and would come in a little worse for wear and get yelled at by Pollock. But Nicole had a sinking feeling in her stomach, the same feeling she got before a big case started, the feeling that something bad was happening and she was helpless against it.

"You got to stop worrying, Nic. This is Jess we're talking about, I'm sure everything is fine. Maybe she overslept or got caught up on a phone call with Doug." Nicole could tell that Antonio was trying, desperately, to calm her down but she couldn't get the nagging feeling to leave. That feeling is what made her become an FBI agent, and she knew she had to trust it.

"Since when have you known Jess to be late for any case?" Nicole asked pointedly as she redialed Jess' cell. Antonio searched for an excuse, but soon closed his mouth. Nicole picked up on a note of anxiety in his eyes, too, and that only made her feel worse.

"I'll go check her placement, provided her cell phone is on, and call the apartment building to see if she left yet." Nicole smiled gratefully. The smile was soon wiped off her face when Jess' cell went immediately to voicemail again. Nicole shot the elevators an evil glare and tossed her cell phone angrily onto the nearest desk. She wanted to shoot someone.

"Is there a problem, Agent?" Nicole felt her mood swirl even farther down the drain as she heard the voice of John Pollock. Him. She wanted to shoot him. Pollock, she was sure, going to be furious. "There better be a damn good problem. Something worth having my agents not on the lookout for Jared Hart, who already has a 24 hour head start since his little jail break. So explain to me, Agent Scott, why you, Cortez, and Mastriani aren't looking all over the world for Hart, why instead you are abusing cell phones in my building?" Before Nicole could even open her mouth, Antonio ran to Nicole and took a hold of her elbow. From the look on his face, Nicole knew that all of her worst suspicions were about to be confirmed.

"How bad is it?" She asked, her voice cracking. Nicole wasn't a particularly emotional person by rule, but she genuinely cared for Jess and she was scared for her partner. Even more scared now that Antonio was taking such a long time answering her.

"Her cell phone isn't on, and I called the apartment building, and they said she hadn't left yet. In fact, no one has seen Jess since yesterday morning." Antonio looked directly at Nicole, and she felt her heart rise to her throat. Don't say it, don't say it, don't… "Around dawn last night someone broke in to Jess' apartment. The place is in ruins, and, like I said, she is no where to be found and police is swarming all over the place." Nicole turned to look at Pollock, hoping beyond hope that he would let them put the case on hold for just a little bit to go and find Jess. They had to find Jess, failure wasn't an option. Not here, not now, not ever.

"Cortez, you and Scott are going to leave the break in to the police and head over to the conference room to see if we can locate Jared Hart. This man is a national, almost universal, emergency, and he is on our watch list." Nicole was getting angry, even angrier than before, but before she could say anything Antonio addressed the assistant director.

"Sir, this is Jess we're talking about." The two men shared a long look, and Pollock didn't seem wavered at all. Antonio sighed and began to flip through his manila folder. Pollock shot Scott a glare, which she gladly returned, and began to walk away. "Hart was there, Sir. At Jess', last night." Pollock stopped in his tracks and Nicole felt her heart turn to ice. Jared Hart had been relatively harmless when they had "worked" with him before, but he had gotten hundreds of people killed in his time.

Antonio handed Pollock a picture of a black sedan, with the first three license plate numbers/letters W3F rolling in to Jess' building. Nicole was terrified for Jess and of the situation, but proud of Antonio. She knew, and Pollock knew, that there was no excuse not to go to Jess' place now.

"That car was rented out three blocks down from the prison, to a man fitting Jared Hart's profile. It drove up to the apartment building around dawn, parked, and left within an hour." Antonio rattled off facts like he did during any other case, but Nicole could detect a note of worry in his usually neutral tone. He was worried, almost as worried as she was, and that made Nicole ten times more scared.

Pollock shot Antonio the angriest, most annoyed look Nicole had ever seen or shot herself.

"Then you and Scott need to get over there, quickly. Find what Hart was doing, and get Mastriani back over here." Nicole and Antonio were halfway out the door before he had even finished his second sentence.

I have more coming within the next few days, depending on the reactions!