Captured
by mardel
PG SBR(a little)
Disclaimer: I just borrowed them for the story they are owned by
Kronish Productions.
Bailey knew it was up to him to hold on. His team wouldn't let him down.
He was tied arms spread to a beam it an old barn. The last thing he
remembered before being hit from behind was hanging up after
talking to Sam on his cell phone.
He had been scouting a possible hide out for the current killer
they were tracking. He'd been with the new agent assigned to his
unit, Hank Jackson. He didn't see the other man, but that didn't
mean he wasn't being held in the same situation in another place.
He had been stripped down to only his shoes, and pants. They had
even taken his ring and bracelet. It was still summer in Georgia, so
he didn't have to worry about keeping warm.
She was watching him, she had been watching him for a long time
now. He had been the one, the man who would be the one.
She had met him over a year ago. At a Bureau award dinner. He'd
been dancing with that blonde woman. Samantha.
But she has watched and waited, and planned and waited. He'd
finally put himself into her hands. He had not protected himself.
He was always more worried about the blonde. He was always
protecting others. He'd let his guard down just enough for her
to take advantage.
She'd enjoyed watching him, she had found ways to spy on him
every place he went. Even his home and office. She was after all
part of the Bureau family. Even if her agent husband had been
killed in the line of duty. She was still allowed access to friends
that worked there.
Her favorite place to watch him had been his home. His daughter
was never there now. He sometimes would not get dressed first
thing in the morning wearing only his boxers. She'd had an
excellent view of his powerful build. She liked all those muscles.
His shoulders were thick with muscle, his arms bulged. Even his
legs were magnificent, corded thighs and hard calves.
She heard the beep of her alarm system and went to check .
She would return to him shortly.
Bailey rolled his shoulders, he had no idea how long he'd been out.
He felt like at least a few hours. He was running through his mind
the possibilities for his captor. It could be Jack of course, that was
always possible. But he'd mostly killed his victims, only Nathan had
been injured and escaped.
It could be the killer they were looking for, but he'd not shown any
past history of leaving people alive for any length of time either.
His thing was, to do as much damage as possible and then leave
the body in a place it would be found.
There were men he put in prison over the years that had vowed
to get him, if they ever had the chance. He was just going to have
to wait and see.
The woman had checked her warning system. It had been set off
by a UPS truck making a wrong turn at the end of her private road.
Now it was time for her to visit Bailey. She'd been looking forward
to this for so long. She had made sure they would be interrupted.
Bailey turned his head towards the door of the barn when it slid
open. A tall woman stepped inside and closed the door again.
He waited, he wanted to see if she was the person responsible
for his current tied up state, or only one of a group. She might
just have been sent to check on him.
"Agent Malone, your not to uncomfortable I hope." she looked up
at him.
"I'd prefer to not be tied spread eagle." he answered.
"I'm afraid you'll just have to accept it, your to skilled for me to allow
you any movement." she kept far enough away so he couldn't
reach her with his feet.
"Why am I here?"
"I've been watching you, and I wanted you." she said simply.
"You want to control me?" he continued.
"I want to own you." she told him.
"No one can own another person." he told her.
"We will see." she stepped back toward the door.
Bailey was puzzled even more by his talk with the woman. She had
looked vaguely familiar. He'd been trained as a profiler in the first
class. But he wasn't sure if she truly believed she could keep him
with her as she had said. If she only planned some type of
ritual to bind herself to him, spiritually. So many of the men they
hunted thought they were keeping the soul of the women they
killed by preforming a ritual of some kind.
They was so little about female serial killers, if there even were
any. Women tended to only act out against men who had been
abusing them.
Back at the VCTF George was the one to first become worried about
Bailey and the new agent. They had not check in for several hours and
all of his attempts to contact Bailey had been negative.
Sam was in the field with John and Grace. Nathan had just returned
to the office after medical leave.
"I think we need to post a bulletin." George told Nathan.
"You think something has happened to Bailey?"
"I know the cell coverage is spotty in that part of Georgia but I'm not
happy about this."
"Did you tell John yet?"
"I was going to call him, now."
"Grant?"
"John, it's George, look Bailey hasn't checked in since ten this morning.
I want to put our a bulletin."
"You can't reach him? Isn't he in the part of the state that our cells
blank out it?" John was covering all possible explanations.
"Yeah, but it's still not like him, when he's in the field he checks in
all the time you know that."
"Yeah, Ok contact the sheriff's office and have them check out Bailey's
last know location. I'll get back as soon as I can."
"Right, see you soon."
The sheriff's office of Walton county sent a car out to the rural area
Bailey and Agent Jackson had been investigating. They eventually found
the body of Agent Jackson with the car in the barn of a abandoned
farm.
"Damn," John pounded his fist down on the table when the call came
in form the sheriff.
"George send the lab team, tell them not to touch anything. Call
Grace back here and Sam. Damn, Sam she's going to " he didn't
even finish the statement. He hadn't told the ladies why he was
returning to HQ. Now he was going to have to tell Sam.
"Never mind I'll call Sam and Grace." he picked up the phone on
the desk and dialed her cell phone.
Sam had been having an uneasy feeling most of the morning but
that wasn't unusual when she was on a crime scene.
"Samantha Waters," she answered her phone.
"Sam, it's John we need you to come back to HQ."
"What's happened?"
"Bailey is missing and Agent Jackson had been found dead." John told
her straight out.
"No, John not Bailey." she choked.
Grace looked up from where she was, and head the note of despair
in Sam's voice. She moved towards her friend and took the phone.
John repeated the news and told her they were to return to HQ.
"Grace, we don't think he's dead." John told her."The chopper should
be there by the time you reach the landing area."
"OK, look we'll be there soon." she hung up.
Grace stepped outside and waved an tall blonde officer over.
"There is an emergency back in Atlanta, we are going to need you
to drive us back to the helipad we landed at this morning."
"Yes, ma'am I'll radio my Captain." he nodded.
Bailey was unsure how much time had past before the woman
returned. He had been wishing for a while now for a drink of
water. He had been trained a long time ago in the service on
techniques used to break men who had been captured.
One of the most effective was with holding water. It took
longer than some of the others but it worked.
"I've brought you food and water, but your going to have to
stay tied." she told him.
Bailey noticed she was carrying a large chain, over her shoulder
and a box with food and a squeeze bottle of water.
He was a little worried about that chain, she hadn't hurt
him yet aside from the knock on the head but that didn't
mean she wasn't planning something.
She maneuvered around behind him, and wrapped a chain
around his legs, then fastened a lock to a ring in the floor.
"There now do you want water first?" she asked.
"Yes, please" he couldn't hurt to be polite.
She lifted the water bottle to his mouth, having to get very
close as she did so. Bailey drank deeply, she was willing to
pour a mouthful at a time for him, until he nodded he was
done.
"Thank you." he looked at her, his eyes he hopped neural.
Not showing the anger he was feeling, he was going to
have to control his tone of voice too, if she started asking
him questions.
"I have a piece of fruit and a sandwich which would you like?"
Bailey wasn't sure he wanted either, he needed to keep up
his strength but it didn't look like he was going get a bathroom
break anytime soon.
"I think I'll pass on the food, if you don't mind." he told her.
"Suite yourself." she stepped back and looked him over.
She liked the way his chest was accented with dark hair.
She always had, there was just enough for it to be noticeable. Not
so much that it distracted from his build. The way his arms were
stretched out, his pecs were flattened some. But the large muscle
of his upper arms was still huge. That was one of the reasons she
had decided to tie him this way. So there was no way for him to
use that power to free himself.
Bailey was watching her study him. She still seemed familiar to
him. She was tall with medium color brown hair probably in her
mid thirties. She was wearing her hair pulled back into a clip
but it looked long. Her eyes were blue but dark blue.
She wasn't wearing makeup, or perfume. When she had been
close the only thing he smelled from her was sweat.
He moved his feet and then remembered about the chain.
"I'll let you have your feet free again, but not yet."
She circled around behind him again, he felt her touch his
back. Right between his shoulder blades. It felt like she was
putting a mark on him, with grease paint or something.
She traced an arc from the middle to one shoulder, then
again to the other shoulder. Then a line down the middle
of his back. Then more touches small strokes down from
the first two lines. She stepped back and looked at her
handwork.
"You have a powerful build Agent Malone." she told him
while studying him from the front again.
"I try to stay in shape." he answered her.
"Your more than in shape." she told him.
He didn't know how to respond to that so he remained
silent.
Bailey maintained his neural expression. He might stall
her long enough for the team to locate him.
"You probably don't remember meeting me, but we met
last year." she said. She was deciding what to do next, she
could put the markings on him now, or wait until it was
closer to the time. While she was thinking her warning
signal went off again.
"I'll be back, not to worry." she told him and hurried out.
Bailey was hopeful his rescue was close at hand but when
he heard nothing and no one came he decided it had
been an alarm other than warning her of intruders.
It grew dark, and he decided to test the strength of his bonds.
He'd tried when he had first come around but he was feeling a
little strong at the moment from the adrenalin that had hit his
system at the sound of the alarm. He tested the left side rope.
It was tied well, he couldn't move it at all. The right side eased
just slightly. He investigated the ring in the floor his feet were
chained to, it was fastened to wood that was old and starting
to rot. He dug his toe around the plate holding the ring to the
floor and it loosened. If he had to break his way out, that might
be his best possible route. He could capture the woman with
his legs if they were free again. She had been wise to stay away
from him when they were.
He worked at the right side rope some more, but it was still
holding fast.
George was searching a data base for female criminals. They
had discovered Agent Jackson had been killed by a female or
a rather small man. The shoe tracks were very small, only size
five. The caliber gun used had been only twenty two, but she'd
used four bullets. At close range.
He was searching for any females Bailey had helped put in prison.
There weren't many as he had been with the VCTF for a number of
years. His time in the New York Field Office had been mostly white
collar crime. Not to many females there either.
Sam entered the room where George's fingers were flying over his
key board. She looked scared. She was worried. She didn't know
how she would live with herself if Jack killed Bailey.
His new female protegee must have been ordered to capture Bailey.
But other things about the crime scene didn't fit with the type
of kills Jack had made before.
"I've narrowed it down to these few possibilities." George hit a final
key and seven pictures came up on the big screen.
"All have been arrested by Bailey or a team he was part of, two have
been allowed probation for good behavior. They were sent up for
assisting in a bank robbery.
Three are still in federal prison and I am checking to make sure it
is really them and not a double.
These two are unknown, one was never found guilty. There was a
mis-trial and she was mistakenly released from jail. She hasn't been
seen or heard of in six years.
And last but not least this woman walked off from a work detail six
months ago. All efforts to locate her have been negative."
" I don't have a feeling about any of them, but put out a urgent notice
about those last two." she said and sat down next to him.
John came in just then, "I just spoke to the head guy at The Federal Women
prison in Tennessee, he said all of those women we were interested in
checked out their prints matched the records."
"Good, one less thing to worry about." George said. He put his hand over
Sam's on the top of the table.
"We will get him back Sam, Bailey is tough."
She nodded, what she wouldn't give right now for one of Bailey's hugs.
But then if he was here she wouldn't be needing it. She thanked George
and stood back up to return to her office.
John had watched all of this from his spot on the other side of the table.
He wanted to comfort Sam. He was past the idea that she would ever
consider him anything but a co-worker and friend. But he still wanted
to help, even if it was just for a moment to make her feel some hope.
He picked up a file and headed back out towards his desk in the main
room of the office. He looked up towards Sam's office and she was just
standing in the middle of her office head tucked, her whole body
looking as if she was about to cave in from the stress and presure.
John moved towards her office, he could at least offer her a shoulder
to lean on. He didn't have to force the issue.
He came up behind her, placing a broad hand on the center of
her upper back.
"Sam hang on a while longer, we are going to find him." John said.
She froze when his hand made contact, then she moved into the
gentle touch.
" I know we will." she said.
" I know I'm a poor substitue, but if a hug would help." he almost
whispered, in case she didn't respond.
But she turned towards him, her eyes so full of pain. He wrapped
his arms around her, her face pressed into his neck and shoulder.
Her arms coming around his ribs, tight fists pressed into his tense
back.
"Hang on Sam we are all worried about him. We all love him."
John told her, meaning every word. He held on to her, keeping
his embrace tight, waiting until she signaled she was done.
George passed the office on his way to take a floppy disk to
Grace he noticed them together. He was glad Sam was accepting
John's attempt at comforting her. It wasn't something he had much
practice with.
"Grace I have a disk here with details of the victums from the case
we were working before all hell broke loose."
"Put in on the desk, I'll look at it in a few minutes." she was working on
the microscope.
" John has finally taken a step up in the world, he's been accepted as
comforter pro tem." George was trying to make a joke.
"What are you talking about?" Grace looked up from her work.
"John and Sam were sharing a hug just now. I'm glad he finally got
up the corage to go in there."
"He's not Bailey, he dosen't read Sam like the rest of us do. He doesn't
do the comfort thing." Grace said and pulled off her gloves and washed
her hands.
"If you were so worried about it why didn't you make the offer?
I can't see anyone turning you down, as I recall your a damn good
hugger yourself."
"I haven't know Sam ask long as you and John." he schrugged then
looked at Gracce. "Was that a veiled request?"
"It was."
He moved to embrace her, she met him half way and squeezed him
tight in return.
"You only have to give me a hint." he laughed when they moved apart.
"I shouldn't have to." she told him.
Bailey worked on his plan for getting himself free of his captor.
He would need at least one hand free, or if he could grab her
with his legs in a tight enough hold, he might be able to make
her free him. If she really liked him, like most stalkers did, then
he might be able to talk her out of her plan.
It was morning he was thirsty, his arms were past the point of
aching they were almost numb. He rolled his shoulders and
concentrated on flexing each portion of his arms in order to
move the blood around. His captor didn't come to see him
again until that afternoon, he'd been working at the ring
in the floor again. He'd been working on his right hand.
He was determined to free himself, now. He was tired of
waiting for rescue.
"I brought you water, but I have to leave." she moved in
close and poured the water for him. He drank as before
taking whole mouths full, to quench his thirst.
" Do you still want to own me?" he asked. Wanting to get her talking.
"I will own you soon, very soon." she told him.
"Why did you mark me? Was it part of the process?'
"Yes, there is more marking that needs to be done. But I have
things that need taken care of, I'll be back." she stroked a
hand over his chest, then stepped back.
The second day of Bailey's disappearance, Sam was working on a
theroy that the people from the case they had been working
had been the ones to capture Bailey.
George was running data about killing sprees involving female
and male partners. There was more data then he had expected.
John was checking on a lead they had gotten about one of the
escapees. Nathan was with him.
"George have you tried matching up any of this information with
the last known place he used his phone?" Sam asked.
"Yes, I ran that data yesterday, but I had an idea about, the cell towers.
I've marked the places where they are the weakest, and now I'm
working on locating any farms or proberty that is listed as abandoned,
for sale or other wise not occupied. I should have the list soon. "
He half smiled.
Sam nodded she hadn't even considered that. He was worth his
weight in gold this one. She really needed to trust him more. He often
thought of the same kind of research she did, and beat her to the
data and had it ready for her to look over.
Bailey worked at the floor now sure he could free himself if
he could use the plate from the floor on the ropes.
It would require him to lever his whole body up to the beam
his hand were tied to, he dug at the rotting wood until he
loosen the bolt on one side of the plate. Then he focused
his strength into his right arm and moved his bonds closer
together. He grasped the beam he was tied to in his hands
and pulled himself up until his feet her several inches off
the floor. He pulled with his legs at the weakening wood
on the floor and after a dozen tries finally broke his feet
free.
He relaxed back to a standing position. Listening for
any signs of someone coming, after the noise he had
made. When he heard none he moved his feet so the
chain was wrapped around one leg, then lifted himself
up again, bending to put his feet over the beam and
groaning as his sore arms had to support his entire
weight the pushed until his thighs were resting against
the beam. He was now upside down, he rested for a second
then pushed again and he was sitting on the beam his hands
still tied. And bent slightly behind him. It was not a comfortable
position, but now he could reach his ankle with the metal plate
to his right wrist and it only took a few minutes to cut through
the rope. He exhaled in relief, his wrist raw from all of his
efforts, he undid the other rope and then lowered himself
back to the floor of the barn. The water was still sitting on
the floor near the door he took it with him.
The woman was using her visitor pass to see how the VCTF,
was doing with it's search for Bailey. She wasn't there long
to learn they hadn't made any headway. They were looking
in the wronge direction. She was smiling when she drove
back towards the country.
Bailey moved towards the road and away from the house.
He knew the house was off line, the electic was even off,
so he knew the phone was not working. He might have
been able to located his cell phone at the house but
the risk was to great. He reached the road and headed
towards the small cluster of houses a few miles off.
"Sam, I think I have a hit, here,' He showed her a road map
with a circle marked in the area of Good Hope, a small
town in Walton County.
"I pray that is a sign, Sam pointed towards the name of the
town."
"Should we call John? Or pull some agents from the field
office and go now?" George asked. He wasn't exactly an
agent but he could handle himself in the field.
"I think we should do both. John might be close enough
to meet us there." Sam said and went for her stuff, she
didn't often carry her gun. But she wanted it with her
this time for sure.
Bailey thought about how he was going to approach the locals.
At the moment he looked very rough, he was dirty, he had
several days worth of stubble. He was shirtless, and he knew
he could be intimidating to people when he was dressed.
He choose a house that had fresh laundry hanging on the line
out back. He was carefully making his way towards the clothes.
He was about five feet from the clothes line, when he heard a
screen door squeak, and a woman yell
"You get away from my clean clothes you dirty scoundrel."
And then a shoot gun blast rent the air.
Bailey was running for cover, not stopping to look back.
He jumped behind a low stone fence, just as he cleared the
barrier he felt himself hit.
He reached a hand to his back and felt blood, but only a little.
He brought the offending pellet around to inspect it.
"Rock Salt." he said out loud. Shaking his head, he knew people
use to use it to shoot and stay dogs and sometimes vagrants.
At least he knew it wouldn't injury him worse than it was now.
He cased the next closest house more carefully, he listened for
sounds of people, if there was anyone home they were being
very quite. There was no car, truck or any other type of vehicle
parked outside.
He knocked on the back door to be on the safe side. There was
no answer. He tried the door nob, it was unlocked, he stepped
inside and moved to the phone. He was disappointed to find
it was dead. He had just put the phone back, when he heard
a noise behind him. He turned to face the noise preparing
himself for anything.
There was a girl child standing in the doorway, wearing footie
pajamas and holding a stuffed bunny.
"Hello" she said looking up at him trustingly.
Bailey crouched down to her level and said.
"Hi there, is your mommy home?"
She shook her head no
"Is your daddy home?"
No again." My name is Melissa, I'm four." she told him.
"My name is Bailey." he smiled.
"Do you know where your mommy is Melissa?"
"She's at gammas house."
"Do you know where that is?"
She nodded and took his hand, by one finger and went into the
front room. She climbed up on the couch and pointed out the
window.
Bailey saw across the valley three houses.
"Grandma live over there?'
Melissa nodded. She was studying him then she asked.
"Are you cold?"
Bailey smiled, "I lost my shirt, do you think your daddy has one I
could wear?'
She nodded climbed down off the couch and toddled into the
kitchen again and pointed to a hooded sweatshirt handing by
the hood from the hook on a hat rack.
"Thank you." Bailey took the sweatshirt down, it was a large but it
would fit him. He pulled it on and zipped it shut.
Melissa smiled at him offered her arms to him like she wanted to
be picked up and held. Bailey lifted her to his hip.
"What's your bunny's name?"
"Hoppy."
"That's a good name for a bunny."
He noticed a truck coming toward the house on the road.
Not wanting to scare the lady when she arrived home, he
quickly looked at the enveloped stacked at the back of
counter to learn her name.
He stepped outside with Melissa still on his hip, standing on
the porch he greeted her.
"Good afternoon Mrs. Nelson, I'msorry to bother you but my name is
Bailey Malone, I'm with the Atlanta FBI and I need to use a telephone."
She looked him over clearly she didn't believe him, but he
wasn't threatening her, and Melissa looked unharmed.
"I have a cell phone but it sometimes doesn't work until
you get closer to town." She pulled a phone out of her
hand bag.
Bailey flipped the phone open and it had a signal so he
dialed and after the sixth ring the phone switched to
George's cell phone. He had set it up that way so as
not to miss any calls that came in while he was out.
"Fraley.
"George, it's Bailey I'm alright."
"Bailey, where are you?"
Sam smiled, and said a silent prayer of thanks, as she listened
to George speak with Bailey.
"Walton co,"he looked towards Mrs. Nelson and she told him
her address.
"609 CO Rd 115 near the town of Good Hope, is Agent Jackson
missing also?'
"He was killed Bailey.We have your location pinpointed on the
map we will be there in a few minutes."
"A few minutes?"
"Sam and I had a hunch about your possible location, we were on
the way there now."
"OK, I'll see you in a few minutes then." Bailey
Sam took out her phone and called John,
"Grant here,"
"John he's OK, Bailey is safe." she told him her voice jubilant.
"Thank God, where?"
"Walton Co, is where he called in from, he must have gotten
himself free. Can you meet us here, or do you want to meet
us back at the office?"
"Wait until you see Bailey then call me back." He was a smiles
when he told Nathan that Bailey was safe.
Sam called Grace next. She let the phone ring six times then it
switched to voice mail. She called back and again it switched
to voice mail. She called a third time and was say pick up Grace
as she waited
"What?" Grace answered.
"He's safe Grace, Bailey is OK."
"Thank God, you give him a hug for me when you see him. I want the
whole story when you get back. I'll spread the word here."
"I will, don't worry." she nearly giggled.
When George pulled up to the small frame house Bailey was standing
on the porch a glass of ice tea in one hand and a little girl pointing
to the explorer as is parked. Mrs. Nelson took Melissa in her arms
as Bailey moved to greet George and Sam.
He hugged Sam for several long seconds.
"I'm so glad to see you again, I was so scared." she confessed.
"Same here, Sam." he said. They broke apart and smiled at each
other.
"Are you alright?" George asked standing next to them both.
Bailey moved to hug him also,
"I'm sore as hell but fine."
"Grace will want to check you out when we get back."
"I'm sure she will, Samantha Waters, George Fraley this is Mrs. Nelson
and her daughter Melissa." Bailey introduced them.
"Hello." the still unsure woman said. "
Melissa was waving at them from her mothers arms.
"Would you please show Mrs. Nelson your badge, she's still not sure
I've been telling her the truth." Bailey told Sam.
"OH, sure we are all agents with Atlantia FBI." she showed Mrs. Nelson
her badge and ID.
" He seemed nice but you never know these days." she looked at Sam's
ID and nodded.
"What can you tell me about Agent Jackson?" Bailey asked George.
They had stepped a few feet away from the porch so Melissa and
her mother couldn't hear.
"Four rounds from a twenty caliber at close range. He did get a round
off but we never found the bullet. The shooter was a woman or small
man."
"I was being held by a woman. Why are you with Sam?"
"John was checking our best lead, we were working on female prisoners
or criminals you had put away. He was checking the location of our
best suspect when a program I was running came up with two farms
that were matches. Sam didn't want to wait, we called John and he
said we could investigate and should call in local police if it looked
good. He was on his way here next."
I don't think this woman was someone I ever put away, or even
interviewed on a case. But she told me she had met me once."
Bailey advised George.
Sam joined them. "Mrs. Nelson is a believer now. I gave her my card
and told her she could call Atlanta if she wanted to verify."
"Thanks Sam, I guess I should say thank you and we can get going."
Bailey said good bye to Melissa and her mother thanking them both
for their help. Melissa leaned to kiss him goodbye and waved when
they all pulled out in the explorer.
"Once John gets here we need to surround the farm I was being held
at, and determine if my captor is coming back."
The woman in question had returned after he had escaped, she had
taken her important supplies with her and a piece of Bailey's affects.
She was driving north when Bailey was looking for a phone.
They found all of his effects, badge, ID, gun, wallet, jacket, phone and
even his ring, watch and bracelet. His shirt was missing. There were no
finger prints that matched anything on file.
Grace checked Bailey over throughly when he arrived back at the
VCTF.
"I know you think this is a waste of time, but I'm still going to do it
so just hold still." she was taking a sample of the stuff on his back,
she also patched up the three welts and one small hole in his
back from the rock salt.
"You were lucky this wasn't buck shot, I would have to give you a
tetanus shot." she smacked his butt with her gloved hand.
"This looks like homemade war paint, it's going to leave a stain
on your skin for a couple of days maybe longer. But it will wear off.
I'd say you need to soak in a hot tub tonight, your wrists are going
to take time to heal. I want to check this one again tomorrow it's
a little deeper than the other. You did this to yourself getting free?"
"Yeah, she kept me tied up, but she didn't seem to want to hurt me."
"Sam thinks Agent Jackson being killed was a mistake, he surprised
her and she shot back. Other wise it wouldn't have been at such
close range."
"That is possible, but it is still murder."
Grace nodded. "OK boss your free to leave, but don't let me catch
you working. Everything can wait until tomorrow. John can handle
it for one more day."
"OK, Gracie, thanks."
Bailey showered in the locker room standing under the hot water
for a long time to help ease the soreness from his body. He put
on clean clothes from his ready kit and returned to the office.
George was already at work on finding the woman Bailey had
described to him. He was thinking public function, she could have
met him at a Bureau function or a fund raiser he had accompanied
Sam to a year ago. He had come up with a few
possible and he took them to Bailey once he came up from
the shower and Grace's exam.
"This is her, George how did you find this?" Bailey looked shocked
at his friend.
" I searched a photos of all the evens you had attended the past
three years. And based on your description these where the pictures
I came up with. We don't have a name to go with it yet, but I'm
working on it." he smiled.
"That's amazing, good work." Bailey told the younger man.
Bailey was sitting behind his desk working as usual when Grace
found him there.
"Bailey Malone what did I tell you not even an hour ago?"
"Grace I need to go over these reports." he looked up at her, a
look on his face like he knew he'd been caught with his hand
in the cookie jar.
"There isn't anything on your desk so important that you can't
let it wait for a day. You need to rest." she waved him out
from behind his desk and unbuttoned his sleeve,
" I told you to keep these open they need to have air and this is just
rubbing them." She folded his sleeves back and rolled them up his
arm.
"Honestly you men," she shook her head. She had him sit on his
couch and turned his desk lamp off.
"If I catch you working again I'm going to send Sam in here."
She warned him.
"OK, I promise." Bailey lifted his hands in a sign of truce.
Grace sat down next to him and exhaled, "I'm sorry but you had
us all scared half to death, and you know your the one we all
lean on when things go bad. Sam was just barely holding it
together. You know I don't think we are paying George enough
he was stepping in to handle some of the things John should have
been doing."
"I know George is more than a specialist, but we don't really have a
title that describes how important he is to this team." Bailey said.
"Sam had an idea about why only your shirt was missing."
"Trophy of some kind." He said.
Sam entered the room,
"Well here I'll let her explain."
"What?"
"Your theory about the shirt."
"Oh a mans' primary attraction to the females is visual. It's
also his primary trigger for arousal. For women it's supposed to
be smell, I think she took your shirt because it smelled like you."
Sam said.
John had entered the office behind her and he was listening.
"Hang on women choose a guy based on how he smells?"
"There have been studies conducted that prove the theory."
Sam added.
"But this is when she is choosing a mate John, not some one to
spend time with." Grace smiled.
"You mean like husband material?" John asked.
"Yeah, so don't worry, your still going to have to fight them off with
a stick." Grace teased him.
Bailey was leaning his head back, listening to opera when Sam checked
in with him on her way home.
"Hey, you should go home and rest." she took a seat next to him on
the couch.
"I will. Are you OK?"
"Yeah, fine now that your back." she smiled and touched his bare arm.
"I'm glad to be back." he covered her hand on his arm with his hand.
Sam leaned her head against his shoulder and just enjoyed being
with him for the moment. Bailey was so much a part of her world
she didn't know how she could ever live with out him.
End
by mardel
PG SBR(a little)
Disclaimer: I just borrowed them for the story they are owned by
Kronish Productions.
Bailey knew it was up to him to hold on. His team wouldn't let him down.
He was tied arms spread to a beam it an old barn. The last thing he
remembered before being hit from behind was hanging up after
talking to Sam on his cell phone.
He had been scouting a possible hide out for the current killer
they were tracking. He'd been with the new agent assigned to his
unit, Hank Jackson. He didn't see the other man, but that didn't
mean he wasn't being held in the same situation in another place.
He had been stripped down to only his shoes, and pants. They had
even taken his ring and bracelet. It was still summer in Georgia, so
he didn't have to worry about keeping warm.
She was watching him, she had been watching him for a long time
now. He had been the one, the man who would be the one.
She had met him over a year ago. At a Bureau award dinner. He'd
been dancing with that blonde woman. Samantha.
But she has watched and waited, and planned and waited. He'd
finally put himself into her hands. He had not protected himself.
He was always more worried about the blonde. He was always
protecting others. He'd let his guard down just enough for her
to take advantage.
She'd enjoyed watching him, she had found ways to spy on him
every place he went. Even his home and office. She was after all
part of the Bureau family. Even if her agent husband had been
killed in the line of duty. She was still allowed access to friends
that worked there.
Her favorite place to watch him had been his home. His daughter
was never there now. He sometimes would not get dressed first
thing in the morning wearing only his boxers. She'd had an
excellent view of his powerful build. She liked all those muscles.
His shoulders were thick with muscle, his arms bulged. Even his
legs were magnificent, corded thighs and hard calves.
She heard the beep of her alarm system and went to check .
She would return to him shortly.
Bailey rolled his shoulders, he had no idea how long he'd been out.
He felt like at least a few hours. He was running through his mind
the possibilities for his captor. It could be Jack of course, that was
always possible. But he'd mostly killed his victims, only Nathan had
been injured and escaped.
It could be the killer they were looking for, but he'd not shown any
past history of leaving people alive for any length of time either.
His thing was, to do as much damage as possible and then leave
the body in a place it would be found.
There were men he put in prison over the years that had vowed
to get him, if they ever had the chance. He was just going to have
to wait and see.
The woman had checked her warning system. It had been set off
by a UPS truck making a wrong turn at the end of her private road.
Now it was time for her to visit Bailey. She'd been looking forward
to this for so long. She had made sure they would be interrupted.
Bailey turned his head towards the door of the barn when it slid
open. A tall woman stepped inside and closed the door again.
He waited, he wanted to see if she was the person responsible
for his current tied up state, or only one of a group. She might
just have been sent to check on him.
"Agent Malone, your not to uncomfortable I hope." she looked up
at him.
"I'd prefer to not be tied spread eagle." he answered.
"I'm afraid you'll just have to accept it, your to skilled for me to allow
you any movement." she kept far enough away so he couldn't
reach her with his feet.
"Why am I here?"
"I've been watching you, and I wanted you." she said simply.
"You want to control me?" he continued.
"I want to own you." she told him.
"No one can own another person." he told her.
"We will see." she stepped back toward the door.
Bailey was puzzled even more by his talk with the woman. She had
looked vaguely familiar. He'd been trained as a profiler in the first
class. But he wasn't sure if she truly believed she could keep him
with her as she had said. If she only planned some type of
ritual to bind herself to him, spiritually. So many of the men they
hunted thought they were keeping the soul of the women they
killed by preforming a ritual of some kind.
They was so little about female serial killers, if there even were
any. Women tended to only act out against men who had been
abusing them.
Back at the VCTF George was the one to first become worried about
Bailey and the new agent. They had not check in for several hours and
all of his attempts to contact Bailey had been negative.
Sam was in the field with John and Grace. Nathan had just returned
to the office after medical leave.
"I think we need to post a bulletin." George told Nathan.
"You think something has happened to Bailey?"
"I know the cell coverage is spotty in that part of Georgia but I'm not
happy about this."
"Did you tell John yet?"
"I was going to call him, now."
"Grant?"
"John, it's George, look Bailey hasn't checked in since ten this morning.
I want to put our a bulletin."
"You can't reach him? Isn't he in the part of the state that our cells
blank out it?" John was covering all possible explanations.
"Yeah, but it's still not like him, when he's in the field he checks in
all the time you know that."
"Yeah, Ok contact the sheriff's office and have them check out Bailey's
last know location. I'll get back as soon as I can."
"Right, see you soon."
The sheriff's office of Walton county sent a car out to the rural area
Bailey and Agent Jackson had been investigating. They eventually found
the body of Agent Jackson with the car in the barn of a abandoned
farm.
"Damn," John pounded his fist down on the table when the call came
in form the sheriff.
"George send the lab team, tell them not to touch anything. Call
Grace back here and Sam. Damn, Sam she's going to " he didn't
even finish the statement. He hadn't told the ladies why he was
returning to HQ. Now he was going to have to tell Sam.
"Never mind I'll call Sam and Grace." he picked up the phone on
the desk and dialed her cell phone.
Sam had been having an uneasy feeling most of the morning but
that wasn't unusual when she was on a crime scene.
"Samantha Waters," she answered her phone.
"Sam, it's John we need you to come back to HQ."
"What's happened?"
"Bailey is missing and Agent Jackson had been found dead." John told
her straight out.
"No, John not Bailey." she choked.
Grace looked up from where she was, and head the note of despair
in Sam's voice. She moved towards her friend and took the phone.
John repeated the news and told her they were to return to HQ.
"Grace, we don't think he's dead." John told her."The chopper should
be there by the time you reach the landing area."
"OK, look we'll be there soon." she hung up.
Grace stepped outside and waved an tall blonde officer over.
"There is an emergency back in Atlanta, we are going to need you
to drive us back to the helipad we landed at this morning."
"Yes, ma'am I'll radio my Captain." he nodded.
Bailey was unsure how much time had past before the woman
returned. He had been wishing for a while now for a drink of
water. He had been trained a long time ago in the service on
techniques used to break men who had been captured.
One of the most effective was with holding water. It took
longer than some of the others but it worked.
"I've brought you food and water, but your going to have to
stay tied." she told him.
Bailey noticed she was carrying a large chain, over her shoulder
and a box with food and a squeeze bottle of water.
He was a little worried about that chain, she hadn't hurt
him yet aside from the knock on the head but that didn't
mean she wasn't planning something.
She maneuvered around behind him, and wrapped a chain
around his legs, then fastened a lock to a ring in the floor.
"There now do you want water first?" she asked.
"Yes, please" he couldn't hurt to be polite.
She lifted the water bottle to his mouth, having to get very
close as she did so. Bailey drank deeply, she was willing to
pour a mouthful at a time for him, until he nodded he was
done.
"Thank you." he looked at her, his eyes he hopped neural.
Not showing the anger he was feeling, he was going to
have to control his tone of voice too, if she started asking
him questions.
"I have a piece of fruit and a sandwich which would you like?"
Bailey wasn't sure he wanted either, he needed to keep up
his strength but it didn't look like he was going get a bathroom
break anytime soon.
"I think I'll pass on the food, if you don't mind." he told her.
"Suite yourself." she stepped back and looked him over.
She liked the way his chest was accented with dark hair.
She always had, there was just enough for it to be noticeable. Not
so much that it distracted from his build. The way his arms were
stretched out, his pecs were flattened some. But the large muscle
of his upper arms was still huge. That was one of the reasons she
had decided to tie him this way. So there was no way for him to
use that power to free himself.
Bailey was watching her study him. She still seemed familiar to
him. She was tall with medium color brown hair probably in her
mid thirties. She was wearing her hair pulled back into a clip
but it looked long. Her eyes were blue but dark blue.
She wasn't wearing makeup, or perfume. When she had been
close the only thing he smelled from her was sweat.
He moved his feet and then remembered about the chain.
"I'll let you have your feet free again, but not yet."
She circled around behind him again, he felt her touch his
back. Right between his shoulder blades. It felt like she was
putting a mark on him, with grease paint or something.
She traced an arc from the middle to one shoulder, then
again to the other shoulder. Then a line down the middle
of his back. Then more touches small strokes down from
the first two lines. She stepped back and looked at her
handwork.
"You have a powerful build Agent Malone." she told him
while studying him from the front again.
"I try to stay in shape." he answered her.
"Your more than in shape." she told him.
He didn't know how to respond to that so he remained
silent.
Bailey maintained his neural expression. He might stall
her long enough for the team to locate him.
"You probably don't remember meeting me, but we met
last year." she said. She was deciding what to do next, she
could put the markings on him now, or wait until it was
closer to the time. While she was thinking her warning
signal went off again.
"I'll be back, not to worry." she told him and hurried out.
Bailey was hopeful his rescue was close at hand but when
he heard nothing and no one came he decided it had
been an alarm other than warning her of intruders.
It grew dark, and he decided to test the strength of his bonds.
He'd tried when he had first come around but he was feeling a
little strong at the moment from the adrenalin that had hit his
system at the sound of the alarm. He tested the left side rope.
It was tied well, he couldn't move it at all. The right side eased
just slightly. He investigated the ring in the floor his feet were
chained to, it was fastened to wood that was old and starting
to rot. He dug his toe around the plate holding the ring to the
floor and it loosened. If he had to break his way out, that might
be his best possible route. He could capture the woman with
his legs if they were free again. She had been wise to stay away
from him when they were.
He worked at the right side rope some more, but it was still
holding fast.
George was searching a data base for female criminals. They
had discovered Agent Jackson had been killed by a female or
a rather small man. The shoe tracks were very small, only size
five. The caliber gun used had been only twenty two, but she'd
used four bullets. At close range.
He was searching for any females Bailey had helped put in prison.
There weren't many as he had been with the VCTF for a number of
years. His time in the New York Field Office had been mostly white
collar crime. Not to many females there either.
Sam entered the room where George's fingers were flying over his
key board. She looked scared. She was worried. She didn't know
how she would live with herself if Jack killed Bailey.
His new female protegee must have been ordered to capture Bailey.
But other things about the crime scene didn't fit with the type
of kills Jack had made before.
"I've narrowed it down to these few possibilities." George hit a final
key and seven pictures came up on the big screen.
"All have been arrested by Bailey or a team he was part of, two have
been allowed probation for good behavior. They were sent up for
assisting in a bank robbery.
Three are still in federal prison and I am checking to make sure it
is really them and not a double.
These two are unknown, one was never found guilty. There was a
mis-trial and she was mistakenly released from jail. She hasn't been
seen or heard of in six years.
And last but not least this woman walked off from a work detail six
months ago. All efforts to locate her have been negative."
" I don't have a feeling about any of them, but put out a urgent notice
about those last two." she said and sat down next to him.
John came in just then, "I just spoke to the head guy at The Federal Women
prison in Tennessee, he said all of those women we were interested in
checked out their prints matched the records."
"Good, one less thing to worry about." George said. He put his hand over
Sam's on the top of the table.
"We will get him back Sam, Bailey is tough."
She nodded, what she wouldn't give right now for one of Bailey's hugs.
But then if he was here she wouldn't be needing it. She thanked George
and stood back up to return to her office.
John had watched all of this from his spot on the other side of the table.
He wanted to comfort Sam. He was past the idea that she would ever
consider him anything but a co-worker and friend. But he still wanted
to help, even if it was just for a moment to make her feel some hope.
He picked up a file and headed back out towards his desk in the main
room of the office. He looked up towards Sam's office and she was just
standing in the middle of her office head tucked, her whole body
looking as if she was about to cave in from the stress and presure.
John moved towards her office, he could at least offer her a shoulder
to lean on. He didn't have to force the issue.
He came up behind her, placing a broad hand on the center of
her upper back.
"Sam hang on a while longer, we are going to find him." John said.
She froze when his hand made contact, then she moved into the
gentle touch.
" I know we will." she said.
" I know I'm a poor substitue, but if a hug would help." he almost
whispered, in case she didn't respond.
But she turned towards him, her eyes so full of pain. He wrapped
his arms around her, her face pressed into his neck and shoulder.
Her arms coming around his ribs, tight fists pressed into his tense
back.
"Hang on Sam we are all worried about him. We all love him."
John told her, meaning every word. He held on to her, keeping
his embrace tight, waiting until she signaled she was done.
George passed the office on his way to take a floppy disk to
Grace he noticed them together. He was glad Sam was accepting
John's attempt at comforting her. It wasn't something he had much
practice with.
"Grace I have a disk here with details of the victums from the case
we were working before all hell broke loose."
"Put in on the desk, I'll look at it in a few minutes." she was working on
the microscope.
" John has finally taken a step up in the world, he's been accepted as
comforter pro tem." George was trying to make a joke.
"What are you talking about?" Grace looked up from her work.
"John and Sam were sharing a hug just now. I'm glad he finally got
up the corage to go in there."
"He's not Bailey, he dosen't read Sam like the rest of us do. He doesn't
do the comfort thing." Grace said and pulled off her gloves and washed
her hands.
"If you were so worried about it why didn't you make the offer?
I can't see anyone turning you down, as I recall your a damn good
hugger yourself."
"I haven't know Sam ask long as you and John." he schrugged then
looked at Gracce. "Was that a veiled request?"
"It was."
He moved to embrace her, she met him half way and squeezed him
tight in return.
"You only have to give me a hint." he laughed when they moved apart.
"I shouldn't have to." she told him.
Bailey worked on his plan for getting himself free of his captor.
He would need at least one hand free, or if he could grab her
with his legs in a tight enough hold, he might be able to make
her free him. If she really liked him, like most stalkers did, then
he might be able to talk her out of her plan.
It was morning he was thirsty, his arms were past the point of
aching they were almost numb. He rolled his shoulders and
concentrated on flexing each portion of his arms in order to
move the blood around. His captor didn't come to see him
again until that afternoon, he'd been working at the ring
in the floor again. He'd been working on his right hand.
He was determined to free himself, now. He was tired of
waiting for rescue.
"I brought you water, but I have to leave." she moved in
close and poured the water for him. He drank as before
taking whole mouths full, to quench his thirst.
" Do you still want to own me?" he asked. Wanting to get her talking.
"I will own you soon, very soon." she told him.
"Why did you mark me? Was it part of the process?'
"Yes, there is more marking that needs to be done. But I have
things that need taken care of, I'll be back." she stroked a
hand over his chest, then stepped back.
The second day of Bailey's disappearance, Sam was working on a
theroy that the people from the case they had been working
had been the ones to capture Bailey.
George was running data about killing sprees involving female
and male partners. There was more data then he had expected.
John was checking on a lead they had gotten about one of the
escapees. Nathan was with him.
"George have you tried matching up any of this information with
the last known place he used his phone?" Sam asked.
"Yes, I ran that data yesterday, but I had an idea about, the cell towers.
I've marked the places where they are the weakest, and now I'm
working on locating any farms or proberty that is listed as abandoned,
for sale or other wise not occupied. I should have the list soon. "
He half smiled.
Sam nodded she hadn't even considered that. He was worth his
weight in gold this one. She really needed to trust him more. He often
thought of the same kind of research she did, and beat her to the
data and had it ready for her to look over.
Bailey worked at the floor now sure he could free himself if
he could use the plate from the floor on the ropes.
It would require him to lever his whole body up to the beam
his hand were tied to, he dug at the rotting wood until he
loosen the bolt on one side of the plate. Then he focused
his strength into his right arm and moved his bonds closer
together. He grasped the beam he was tied to in his hands
and pulled himself up until his feet her several inches off
the floor. He pulled with his legs at the weakening wood
on the floor and after a dozen tries finally broke his feet
free.
He relaxed back to a standing position. Listening for
any signs of someone coming, after the noise he had
made. When he heard none he moved his feet so the
chain was wrapped around one leg, then lifted himself
up again, bending to put his feet over the beam and
groaning as his sore arms had to support his entire
weight the pushed until his thighs were resting against
the beam. He was now upside down, he rested for a second
then pushed again and he was sitting on the beam his hands
still tied. And bent slightly behind him. It was not a comfortable
position, but now he could reach his ankle with the metal plate
to his right wrist and it only took a few minutes to cut through
the rope. He exhaled in relief, his wrist raw from all of his
efforts, he undid the other rope and then lowered himself
back to the floor of the barn. The water was still sitting on
the floor near the door he took it with him.
The woman was using her visitor pass to see how the VCTF,
was doing with it's search for Bailey. She wasn't there long
to learn they hadn't made any headway. They were looking
in the wronge direction. She was smiling when she drove
back towards the country.
Bailey moved towards the road and away from the house.
He knew the house was off line, the electic was even off,
so he knew the phone was not working. He might have
been able to located his cell phone at the house but
the risk was to great. He reached the road and headed
towards the small cluster of houses a few miles off.
"Sam, I think I have a hit, here,' He showed her a road map
with a circle marked in the area of Good Hope, a small
town in Walton County.
"I pray that is a sign, Sam pointed towards the name of the
town."
"Should we call John? Or pull some agents from the field
office and go now?" George asked. He wasn't exactly an
agent but he could handle himself in the field.
"I think we should do both. John might be close enough
to meet us there." Sam said and went for her stuff, she
didn't often carry her gun. But she wanted it with her
this time for sure.
Bailey thought about how he was going to approach the locals.
At the moment he looked very rough, he was dirty, he had
several days worth of stubble. He was shirtless, and he knew
he could be intimidating to people when he was dressed.
He choose a house that had fresh laundry hanging on the line
out back. He was carefully making his way towards the clothes.
He was about five feet from the clothes line, when he heard a
screen door squeak, and a woman yell
"You get away from my clean clothes you dirty scoundrel."
And then a shoot gun blast rent the air.
Bailey was running for cover, not stopping to look back.
He jumped behind a low stone fence, just as he cleared the
barrier he felt himself hit.
He reached a hand to his back and felt blood, but only a little.
He brought the offending pellet around to inspect it.
"Rock Salt." he said out loud. Shaking his head, he knew people
use to use it to shoot and stay dogs and sometimes vagrants.
At least he knew it wouldn't injury him worse than it was now.
He cased the next closest house more carefully, he listened for
sounds of people, if there was anyone home they were being
very quite. There was no car, truck or any other type of vehicle
parked outside.
He knocked on the back door to be on the safe side. There was
no answer. He tried the door nob, it was unlocked, he stepped
inside and moved to the phone. He was disappointed to find
it was dead. He had just put the phone back, when he heard
a noise behind him. He turned to face the noise preparing
himself for anything.
There was a girl child standing in the doorway, wearing footie
pajamas and holding a stuffed bunny.
"Hello" she said looking up at him trustingly.
Bailey crouched down to her level and said.
"Hi there, is your mommy home?"
She shook her head no
"Is your daddy home?"
No again." My name is Melissa, I'm four." she told him.
"My name is Bailey." he smiled.
"Do you know where your mommy is Melissa?"
"She's at gammas house."
"Do you know where that is?"
She nodded and took his hand, by one finger and went into the
front room. She climbed up on the couch and pointed out the
window.
Bailey saw across the valley three houses.
"Grandma live over there?'
Melissa nodded. She was studying him then she asked.
"Are you cold?"
Bailey smiled, "I lost my shirt, do you think your daddy has one I
could wear?'
She nodded climbed down off the couch and toddled into the
kitchen again and pointed to a hooded sweatshirt handing by
the hood from the hook on a hat rack.
"Thank you." Bailey took the sweatshirt down, it was a large but it
would fit him. He pulled it on and zipped it shut.
Melissa smiled at him offered her arms to him like she wanted to
be picked up and held. Bailey lifted her to his hip.
"What's your bunny's name?"
"Hoppy."
"That's a good name for a bunny."
He noticed a truck coming toward the house on the road.
Not wanting to scare the lady when she arrived home, he
quickly looked at the enveloped stacked at the back of
counter to learn her name.
He stepped outside with Melissa still on his hip, standing on
the porch he greeted her.
"Good afternoon Mrs. Nelson, I'msorry to bother you but my name is
Bailey Malone, I'm with the Atlanta FBI and I need to use a telephone."
She looked him over clearly she didn't believe him, but he
wasn't threatening her, and Melissa looked unharmed.
"I have a cell phone but it sometimes doesn't work until
you get closer to town." She pulled a phone out of her
hand bag.
Bailey flipped the phone open and it had a signal so he
dialed and after the sixth ring the phone switched to
George's cell phone. He had set it up that way so as
not to miss any calls that came in while he was out.
"Fraley.
"George, it's Bailey I'm alright."
"Bailey, where are you?"
Sam smiled, and said a silent prayer of thanks, as she listened
to George speak with Bailey.
"Walton co,"he looked towards Mrs. Nelson and she told him
her address.
"609 CO Rd 115 near the town of Good Hope, is Agent Jackson
missing also?'
"He was killed Bailey.We have your location pinpointed on the
map we will be there in a few minutes."
"A few minutes?"
"Sam and I had a hunch about your possible location, we were on
the way there now."
"OK, I'll see you in a few minutes then." Bailey
Sam took out her phone and called John,
"Grant here,"
"John he's OK, Bailey is safe." she told him her voice jubilant.
"Thank God, where?"
"Walton Co, is where he called in from, he must have gotten
himself free. Can you meet us here, or do you want to meet
us back at the office?"
"Wait until you see Bailey then call me back." He was a smiles
when he told Nathan that Bailey was safe.
Sam called Grace next. She let the phone ring six times then it
switched to voice mail. She called back and again it switched
to voice mail. She called a third time and was say pick up Grace
as she waited
"What?" Grace answered.
"He's safe Grace, Bailey is OK."
"Thank God, you give him a hug for me when you see him. I want the
whole story when you get back. I'll spread the word here."
"I will, don't worry." she nearly giggled.
When George pulled up to the small frame house Bailey was standing
on the porch a glass of ice tea in one hand and a little girl pointing
to the explorer as is parked. Mrs. Nelson took Melissa in her arms
as Bailey moved to greet George and Sam.
He hugged Sam for several long seconds.
"I'm so glad to see you again, I was so scared." she confessed.
"Same here, Sam." he said. They broke apart and smiled at each
other.
"Are you alright?" George asked standing next to them both.
Bailey moved to hug him also,
"I'm sore as hell but fine."
"Grace will want to check you out when we get back."
"I'm sure she will, Samantha Waters, George Fraley this is Mrs. Nelson
and her daughter Melissa." Bailey introduced them.
"Hello." the still unsure woman said. "
Melissa was waving at them from her mothers arms.
"Would you please show Mrs. Nelson your badge, she's still not sure
I've been telling her the truth." Bailey told Sam.
"OH, sure we are all agents with Atlantia FBI." she showed Mrs. Nelson
her badge and ID.
" He seemed nice but you never know these days." she looked at Sam's
ID and nodded.
"What can you tell me about Agent Jackson?" Bailey asked George.
They had stepped a few feet away from the porch so Melissa and
her mother couldn't hear.
"Four rounds from a twenty caliber at close range. He did get a round
off but we never found the bullet. The shooter was a woman or small
man."
"I was being held by a woman. Why are you with Sam?"
"John was checking our best lead, we were working on female prisoners
or criminals you had put away. He was checking the location of our
best suspect when a program I was running came up with two farms
that were matches. Sam didn't want to wait, we called John and he
said we could investigate and should call in local police if it looked
good. He was on his way here next."
I don't think this woman was someone I ever put away, or even
interviewed on a case. But she told me she had met me once."
Bailey advised George.
Sam joined them. "Mrs. Nelson is a believer now. I gave her my card
and told her she could call Atlanta if she wanted to verify."
"Thanks Sam, I guess I should say thank you and we can get going."
Bailey said good bye to Melissa and her mother thanking them both
for their help. Melissa leaned to kiss him goodbye and waved when
they all pulled out in the explorer.
"Once John gets here we need to surround the farm I was being held
at, and determine if my captor is coming back."
The woman in question had returned after he had escaped, she had
taken her important supplies with her and a piece of Bailey's affects.
She was driving north when Bailey was looking for a phone.
They found all of his effects, badge, ID, gun, wallet, jacket, phone and
even his ring, watch and bracelet. His shirt was missing. There were no
finger prints that matched anything on file.
Grace checked Bailey over throughly when he arrived back at the
VCTF.
"I know you think this is a waste of time, but I'm still going to do it
so just hold still." she was taking a sample of the stuff on his back,
she also patched up the three welts and one small hole in his
back from the rock salt.
"You were lucky this wasn't buck shot, I would have to give you a
tetanus shot." she smacked his butt with her gloved hand.
"This looks like homemade war paint, it's going to leave a stain
on your skin for a couple of days maybe longer. But it will wear off.
I'd say you need to soak in a hot tub tonight, your wrists are going
to take time to heal. I want to check this one again tomorrow it's
a little deeper than the other. You did this to yourself getting free?"
"Yeah, she kept me tied up, but she didn't seem to want to hurt me."
"Sam thinks Agent Jackson being killed was a mistake, he surprised
her and she shot back. Other wise it wouldn't have been at such
close range."
"That is possible, but it is still murder."
Grace nodded. "OK boss your free to leave, but don't let me catch
you working. Everything can wait until tomorrow. John can handle
it for one more day."
"OK, Gracie, thanks."
Bailey showered in the locker room standing under the hot water
for a long time to help ease the soreness from his body. He put
on clean clothes from his ready kit and returned to the office.
George was already at work on finding the woman Bailey had
described to him. He was thinking public function, she could have
met him at a Bureau function or a fund raiser he had accompanied
Sam to a year ago. He had come up with a few
possible and he took them to Bailey once he came up from
the shower and Grace's exam.
"This is her, George how did you find this?" Bailey looked shocked
at his friend.
" I searched a photos of all the evens you had attended the past
three years. And based on your description these where the pictures
I came up with. We don't have a name to go with it yet, but I'm
working on it." he smiled.
"That's amazing, good work." Bailey told the younger man.
Bailey was sitting behind his desk working as usual when Grace
found him there.
"Bailey Malone what did I tell you not even an hour ago?"
"Grace I need to go over these reports." he looked up at her, a
look on his face like he knew he'd been caught with his hand
in the cookie jar.
"There isn't anything on your desk so important that you can't
let it wait for a day. You need to rest." she waved him out
from behind his desk and unbuttoned his sleeve,
" I told you to keep these open they need to have air and this is just
rubbing them." She folded his sleeves back and rolled them up his
arm.
"Honestly you men," she shook her head. She had him sit on his
couch and turned his desk lamp off.
"If I catch you working again I'm going to send Sam in here."
She warned him.
"OK, I promise." Bailey lifted his hands in a sign of truce.
Grace sat down next to him and exhaled, "I'm sorry but you had
us all scared half to death, and you know your the one we all
lean on when things go bad. Sam was just barely holding it
together. You know I don't think we are paying George enough
he was stepping in to handle some of the things John should have
been doing."
"I know George is more than a specialist, but we don't really have a
title that describes how important he is to this team." Bailey said.
"Sam had an idea about why only your shirt was missing."
"Trophy of some kind." He said.
Sam entered the room,
"Well here I'll let her explain."
"What?"
"Your theory about the shirt."
"Oh a mans' primary attraction to the females is visual. It's
also his primary trigger for arousal. For women it's supposed to
be smell, I think she took your shirt because it smelled like you."
Sam said.
John had entered the office behind her and he was listening.
"Hang on women choose a guy based on how he smells?"
"There have been studies conducted that prove the theory."
Sam added.
"But this is when she is choosing a mate John, not some one to
spend time with." Grace smiled.
"You mean like husband material?" John asked.
"Yeah, so don't worry, your still going to have to fight them off with
a stick." Grace teased him.
Bailey was leaning his head back, listening to opera when Sam checked
in with him on her way home.
"Hey, you should go home and rest." she took a seat next to him on
the couch.
"I will. Are you OK?"
"Yeah, fine now that your back." she smiled and touched his bare arm.
"I'm glad to be back." he covered her hand on his arm with his hand.
Sam leaned her head against his shoulder and just enjoyed being
with him for the moment. Bailey was so much a part of her world
she didn't know how she could ever live with out him.
End