Disclaimer: I don't own any characters (except Nicki). Most ideas are my own, but I borrowed some lines from the series.

I've never been to Toronto (or Canada), and I don't know anything about how the Police works. Also, I'm not a native English speaker. If someone notices any bad mistakes in the logic or the language, I would be grateful for ideas and corrections via PM.

Hope you have fun reading! :)

Chapter one – A new teammate
Monday, 3rd September, 2012

The alarm clock goes off at five-thirty a.m. as every morning and I slowly stretch out to switch it off. Another day, another chance to make a difference. Especially as today is the day… I suddenly am wide awake with excitement and get out of my bed. I quickly change into my training clothes and go to the kitchen to start the coffee maker. I always turn it on to prepare coffee while I go on my short morning run. I collect my keys and music player from the kitchen counter and set off. It is still dark as I begin my jog. I turn on the music as I run, focusing solely on the sounds that are playing inside my ears, enjoying the cool morning breeze to the full.

I fight with my wavy, medium-length hair to tie it into a ponytail after taking a shower, brushing my teeth and shaving. I need to look good today! I take a quick summary in the mirror and see the muscular body of a thirty-two year old guy with light brown hair, tied up into a ponytail, grey-blue eyes, and clean shaved skin, the summer tan still visible. I smirk and wink at my reflection: It'll do.

The morning has changed into a beautiful and sunny September morning when I park my bicycle in front of the building, my green backpack carelessly draped over my shoulders and music blasting into my ears. I take a few moments to look up to the building in front of me: the headquarters of the Strategic Response Unit.

"All right, let's go" I tell myself while I begin to ascent the stairs to the building's main entrance. Today is my first day on the new job and I am a little bit nervous because I have no clue what to expect. Of course, I've already had my experiences with police works. After studying behavioural psychology and dropping out to join the police academy, I have been working with Homicide for several years. But still, the Special Forces are a complete different matter. Inside, I take another moment to take in the surroundings while taking the ear buds out and stopping the music. It seems a modern building, a few officers are rushing around, and a cute young lady is sitting at a spacious front desk.
"Can I help you, sir?" she asks, her brown eyes looking up to me as friendly as her smile.
"Oh, please" I smile while I walk up to her."Don't call me sir, you make me feel old. My name's Nicholas Taylor, I am to report to Sergeant Gregory Parker today." I hand her my ID and wait for confirmation.
"Alright, Sergeant Parker will be here in a few. You can have seat in the briefing room if you like." The girl points me towards a separate room with a conference table.
"And it's Winnie, by the way. Winnie Camden. Welcome to Team One." She smiles brightly at me, leaving me no choice but to smile back.
"Nick. Thank you Winnie, I am glad to be here." I wink at her and go to wait inside the briefing room.

"Team One, this is Nicholas Taylor, I'm sure you remember him from the recruiting trials. He'll be with us from today on." Sergeant Greg Parker nods at me and continues."I'm not going to embarrass all of us with any speeches, just a little reminder." Greg Parker points out everyone from Team One for me, starting with a bald guy with blue eyes."Ed Lane, Team Leader." Ed nods his greetings.
"Next to him, Jules Callaghan."
"Hey" the brown haired girl replies with a light smile.
"Michelangelo Scarlatti" Greg continues as he points to a guy with dark brown hair.
"It's Spike" he tells me and grins with amusement.
Greg turns to face a dark skinned woman with short black hair.
"Leah Kerns." She nods.
"And Sam Braddock." The blond haired guy right next to me smiles and offers his hand in greeting.
"Good. Sam, please show Nicholas his locker and show him around a bit. The rest of you, off to the-"
The alarm goes off, interrupting Greg midsentence.

"Team One, hot call!" Winnie announces as the Team rushes to get ready. I need a moment to realize that I have no idea what to do right now. I quickly follow the rest of the Team to the equipment lockers.
"Nicholas, you'll be with me today. Observation only." Greg hands me a life vest and an earpiece and I swiftly put it on above my workaday clothes. Observation only. Of course, I don't even have a badge or gear, yet.

"Ok, Team One, we've got a little girl kidnapped from her mother in the middle of the Scarborough Shopping Centre" Greg begins his briefing while Jules is driving to the scene, with me sitting behind them in the back of the car. "The name is Kelly McAlister, two years old. Mother is Jennifer McAlister. She is waiting for us at the mall. Check your PDAs for a photo and floor plans." Greg hands me his PDA to have a look at the girl before he continues.
"The kidnapper has not been seen by the mother. It happened while she was looking at a display window on third floor. Every entrance is under lockdown but there might still be a chance that the kidnapper could get out before that. Nicholas and I will speak to the mother, Jules and Leah, you take first and second floor, Ed and Sam, third floor and above. Search for witnesses and possible suspects, you know the drill. Clear every floor and store, every changing cubicle and public toilet. Ed, you start at the shop where it happened, Femme de Carriere, number three-oh-three."
"Copy that" Ed replies via radio.
"Spike" Greg continues as we park the cars in front of the mall and get off. "You get into the truck and give me every intel on the girl and her mother you can find. Anything might be useful here. Let's keep the peace!"

As we rush into the mall to split up and begin our investigation, one of the police officers maintaining the perimeter offers Greg his hand in greeting. "Officer Smith. Sergeant, it is good you're here. I'll take you to the mother."
"Did she say anything new, yet? Anything that could be useful?" Greg inquires.
"Nothing new, Sergeant. Just that she was looking at a display window and suddenly her girl was missing. She searched for her but couldn't find her. Some guards noticed, locked the building down immediately and called nine-one-one."
"Thank you, Officer, please let the security guard in charge be brought here" Greg states as we come to a halt in front of the mother. The Officer nods and rushes to get the security guards. The mother is younger than I would have thought. She looks like twenty years tops, her long blonde hair is falling unorderly over her shoulders. She sobs and shivers constantly, hugs herself, trying to smother the tears that are still running down her blotchy cheeks. She looks very lonely and desperate right now, making me feel sorry for her.

"Mrs. McAlister? My Name is Sergeant Gregory Parker, I am with the Police, Strategic Response Unit. How are you holding up?" The mother seems unresponsive for a few seconds, but slowly turns her head towards Greg.
"It's Miss. Find my girl. Oh p-please, f-find my… my girl!" she breaks down in tears again, letting herself fall into Greg's arms.
"We are doing our best to find her, Miss. My officers are currently searching for her everywhere, but you need to help me out here, okay? You need to help me understand what happened. Can you do that?" Greg sounds understanding and caring, and slowly the young mother calms down and stands back again.
"O-of course. I-I'll try" she sobs.
"That is great, Miss. Tell me about what happened today."
"I-I just wanted to get out for a bit… like every Monday. B-but my friend was ill… normally she comes with us. S-so I took Kelly and we c-came here alone and I… I just wanted to look at the w-windows. I don't even have money to spend, I j-just wanted to look... I am so sorry Kelly, I am so, so sorry…" She breaks down in tears again but keeps talking.
"I was at… at some shop and there was that d-dress that I wanted to buy so badly… I took a c-closer look through the window and w-wished I could just go in and get it, and m-maybe I was looking too l-long and when I turned back to Kelly sh-she was g-gone. Out of h-her s-stroller. I screamed for her, h-hoping she j-just got free herself… she managed that once before, y-you know." Miss McAlister takes a deep breath and Greg pats her arm.
"You are doing fine, Miss. Really fine. What happened next?"
"I-I don't know! I screamed and searched and cried and then this y-young man comes over and tells me the police is on its way and… and…" She falls silent and buries her face in her hands.

Greg signals an Officer to take care of the woman and walks me a few steps to the side as he calls to Spike over the radio.
"Spike, find out something interesting?"
"Yeah, looks like. Jennifer McAlister, eighteen years old, got pregnant age fifteen. Child's father unknown. Mother died ten years ago. Steven McAlister, her own father, disowned her and threw her out of his house. She got into a Mother and Child care programme and still lives in a monitored flat share community with two other young mothers. No siblings. I'll contact the father next."
"Keep me posted, Spike. And let her social worker be brought in."
"Already done, boss, she's on her way."

"What do you think of this?" Greg turns to me, a testing look in his eyes.
"I say, we need to find out who the father is. Could be personal." Greg nods in agreement.
"Boss, I found some witnesses." Jules' voice sounds over the radio. "Go on" he urges.
"Two woman saw a man carrying a crying child downstairs in a hurry. Child description fits on Kelly. The man is described as seemingly aggressive, blue baseball cap, brown leather jacket. They could not see his face, nor made out a weapon, but he violently pushed other visitors aside to get through in his hurry."
"Where exactly did they see him?" Greg asks.
"Near the escalator from third to second floor."
"Thank you, Jules. Spike, did you get that?"
"Already on it, boss, vid's just came in!" Spike states.

"Boss, on third floor nobody saw a thing" Ed's voice comes in. "I've sent the employees of the Femme store down to you, they did not see anything, but you might wanna check. We cleared this floor, not a single person up here anymore. Officers are holding the perimeter. We start checking out fourth floor now."
"Alright. Go on."
Greg nods to me and we turn back to Miss McAlister.
"Miss, is there anybody we could call for you? A friend, or Kelly's father?" The girl looks shocked upon this question.
"Th-there is no father" she replies.
"What?" he impatiently asks.
"N-no, sir. There simply is n-no father." Miss McAlister looks at the ground and seems to shiver even more.

Greg sighs and turns away from her. "Spike, any charges or accusations laid by or including Miss McAlister or her family?"
"Nothing available, boss."
"Miss" he faces her again, speaking with a stern voice."I cannot believe in immaculate conception here. We want to find your little girl as soon as possible and therefore you need to be honest with me. You need to be brave and I know it can be hard admitting some things, even if you cannot be blamed for anything. But you have to tell me who the father is, right now."
The girl takes a moment to breathe and nervously chews her lips. As she looks up at Greg again I can clearly see a new fear in her eyes.
"D-do you think he h-has something to do with this?" she asks, clearly afraid.
"I don't know that, Miss, as long as I don't know what happened."
"All… alright" Miss McAlister begins slowly. "I-I was fifteen. My friends and I went to a house party of some college students and… and I can't remember much more, really. I woke up in an alien bed with a strange feeling and bruises all over my body and… I was naked and…" She stops and turns away from us. "I n-never hat sex before in my life!" she cries.

"Boss." Spike calls."I found a social network page of Miss McAlister. Not updated since two and a half years, she must have blocked that page. It's full of harassing comments about her having wild sex with several boys on that party she mentioned. Posts from other girls accusing her of being a bitch and stealing their boyfriends. Anonymous posts about how good it was. Even some very intimate photographs. Boss, the pictures let it really look like she enjoyed it."
"Any names or recognisable faces?" Greg asks.
"Negative."
"Thank you Spike." Greg turns to me again, hands on his hips, thinking.
"I guess that's why she never pressed charges against her tormentors, because they made it clear they could prove that she agreed" I comment on the matter, feeling a bit nauseous. "Or even liked it. They used those photos to bribe her into not telling anyone what really happened."
"Sarge" Jules reports over the radio. "First and second floor cleared. All visitors have been assembled at first floor main area. There have been a handful of witnesses, but nothing new. All of them saw a man with a baseball cap and a struggling child. No clues to his whereabouts. Floors, shops and toilets clear."
"Copy that, Jules. Come down and join me. Leah, go find Ed" Greg orders.

"Sir" an Officer approaches us with a woman in tow. "You wanted to speak to Mrs. Bolton, right?"
"Mary Bolton" the woman offers her hand in greeting to both Greg and me. "I am the social worker responsible for Jenny McAlister and her flatmates."
"Mrs. Bolton, thank you for coming. Miss McAlister's girl Kelly was kidnapped this morning. I believe the Officer filled you in on the situation. Please, tell me about Miss McAlister and her daughter."
"Jenny is a nice girl, not very outgoing, very silent and introverted and hard to develop trust. She cut ties with all friends and family when she got pregnant and came to live in our Mother and Child Care programme. She is a caring mother but only seldom goes out of the house on her own. She has a weekly routine to come here with her friend and flatmate Carol, though." Mrs. Bolton takes a break in her speech and looks at Greg seriously.
"What happened to her is a grave story. Her child was conceived during rape. We know the names of likely suspects, as she told us during therapy, but Mrs. Bolton refused to press any charges until a few weeks ago."
"What happened?" I inquire and Mrs. Bolton turns to me.
"She agreed upon lawfully enforcing paternity tests of all suspects to find out who the father is. Most of them could be persuaded to resolve this matter outside court."
"Any results, yet?" Greg lifts his cap and wipes his forehead as he listens.
"We could narrow the list down to two persons. Marc Townsend and Phil Reed. Both men declined the test and claim to have nothing to do with the incident at all. Charges will be pressed officially if the negotiations continue to fail."
"That Reed? Son of Minister Phillip Reed Sr.?" I ask her.
"Exactly" Mrs. Bolton replies, nodding.
"Boss" Spike joins in. "I ran both names and Phil Reed Jr. was age twenty-one when the incident happened."
"So if they could prove he is the father, he would be charged for rape of an underage child, regardless of how it looked on the photos" Greg concludes and I cannot help but feeling a little queasy again.
"Thank you, Mrs. Bolton. Please stick around for a while." Mrs. Bolton nods and turns to go and comfort Miss McAlister.

"Spike, any luck on the CCTV?" Greg asks as Jules joins us, greeting me with a small nod.
"Nothing so far. He did not leave the building on any monitored exit, which is good, but although the camera network covers every exit, it does not cover the whole area inside the building. He seems to have vanished somewhere between second and fourth floor. I saw him leaving the third floor on the back door staircases but he never arrived on the second, nor the fourth floor staircase camera. No other entrances or exits in that area on the floor plans. Ed and Sam are currently checking it out."
"Eddie, status?" Greg inquires.
"Nothing boss, no door, no opened window, no sign of anyone. We're checking out where exactly the cameras have a blind eye."
"Keep me posted. Spike, contact Mr. Townsend and send me the contact details of Mr. Reed"
"Done."
Greg proceeds to unbag his PDA and takes a call.
"Mr. Reed, this is Sergeant Gregory Parker, I'm with the Police Strategic Response Unit. Do you have any knowledge of the whereabouts of your son, Phil Reed Jr.?"
A few moments of silence occur, while Mr. Reed answers.
"I understand" Greg continues to speak. "Please give me the cellphone number of your son. I urgently need to speak to him." Greg writes down the number on his notepad. "Yes, thank you, Sir. Please be available today for further questions."
Another few moments of silence.
"I understand. The Scarborough Shopping Centre. Thank you, Sir." He hangs up and turns to Jules.
"Jules, Mr. Reed Sr. is on his way to us. Maybe we can gather further intel from him. I need you to welcome Mr. Reed and interrogate him about his son."
"Copy." Jules turns and walks outside to wait for Mr. Reed.
Greg types the cellphone number of Reed Jr. into his phone and takes it up to his ear, only to hang up disappointed after a few seconds.
"Directly to mailbox. Spike, any luck with Mr. Townsend?"
"According to his mother, Mr. Townsend is visiting a friend in Quebec. He's been out of town since a week" Spike answers.

"Boss, we may have found something" Sam reports. "A concealed door halfway up between third and fourth floor. It's locked, but it may be where the kidnapper went."
"Agreed" Ed continues. "Security door, build-in to match the walls, no door handle, only a small concealed keyhole."
"We'll get a Security Officer. Stand by." Greg signals me and I start jogging to the lead officer of the in-house Security. I walk him back to Greg quickly.
"Do you have knowledge of a concealed security door between third and fourth floor?" I ask him on the way.
"Of course" the officer answers. "That door leads to a second security office. We have our headquarters on the first floor, so we do not use that one regularly. You need a special key to get in."
"We'll need this key, ASAP" I tell him urgently while we arrive to stand at Greg's side again. "Boss, did you get that?"
"Yes. Go, get that key and meet up with Ed." He hands me his gun. "I trust you know how to use this, Nicholas. Keep back and obey Ed's orders. Understood?"
"Yes, boss, loud and clear" I answer as I take his weapon.

I nod at the officer and we jog towards the first floor security office to grab the keys.
"What is the layout of the security rooms upstairs?" I ask the officer during the run.
"A floor, one surveillance room on the left, two bathrooms on the right. That's all."
"Any weapons locker's or some like that?" I ask further.
"Nothing" the officer shakes his head. "Just some surveillance monitors and a coffee maker."
"Thank you, sir" I tell him as he hands me the keys and explains which key is the right one. "Please report back to Sergeant Parker."

I rush towards the staircase and run up to Ed and the assembled rest of Team One.
"Thanks" Ed notes as I hand him the keys. "Spike, do we have a layout of what is behind this doors?"
"Sorry Ed, nothing on the plans."
"There's a straight floor behind this door, a surveillance room on the left hand side, and bathrooms on the right" I repeat to Ed what the security officer told me before. "No weapons locker or similar things, but some functional surveillance monitors. He could be waiting for us."
"That's right, but you're in a blind spot over there. He can't see you move in on the monitors" Spike comments over radio.
"Alright" Ed nods."We go in quiet and carefully. I go first, Sam, you're Sierra, Leah, less lethal. Nicholas, you follow behind, stay out of trouble and watch our backs."
"Copy" we echo at Ed's orders.
"Ed, the Security Officer just told me that one of his employees, Mr. Carl Benson, reported to be ill this morning. Also, the keychain of Officer Benson as well as another spare key to that security office were missing today, even though all officers are required to leave their keys in the office after shift. The subject must've gotten the keys from him" Greg updates us.
"Copy. Leah, open the door on the count of three. Carefully, I don't want to hear any noise, of any of you" Ed commands in a hushed voice."One. Two. Three."

Leah carefully swings the door open, while everyone stands back in cover. A quick glance confirms the floor is empty and silent. Ed signals to go and quietly and quickly rushes in, the others follow equally silent. They stop at the open door to the left, Ed takes out a mirror to have a look around the corner without being detected and signals us to fall back a few feet.
"One subject inside the room, he's pacing in front of some monitors, directly on the opposite side of the room, possibly checking our movements on the CCTV. Matches the descriptions: tall man, baseball cap, leather jacket. The little girl seems to be sleeping on a sofa on the left wall" Ed whispers and draws the layout of the room in the air for us to have a better understanding.
"We rush in" he continues. No immediate obstacles inside the room, but we need to do it quickly, we need to get to him before he can get to that girl. Sam, you go in first. Leah, less lethal. Both of you, be careful. We still do not know if he has a weapon. Don't shoot until necessary."
"Copy that" Sam and Leah nod.
"Nicholas, you come in behind us. Go straight to the sofa on the left side and check the girl. We won't let him come through to her" he continues, looking at me.
"Understood" I agree.
Ed nods and we take our positions outside the security room. He holds three fingers up, and after a quick glance to confirm our state of readiness, counts to zero with his fingers and motions to go.

After this, everything happens very quickly, and then it's over within only a few seconds.
"POLICE! SRU! WEAPONS ON THE GROUND!ON THE GROUND! DO IT NOW!" They scream simultaneously and continue to do so while I rush to the sofa where the little girl looks up and sits straight, scared and confused.
"Hey Kelly, my name is Nicki." I carefully block her view with my body while kneeling down in front of her. "I'm with the police, you know? Everything is alright now, we'll take you to your mama, ok?" The little girl looks at me with tear-stained, red eyes and a blotchy face. She nods carefully. "Are you hurt?" I ask, but she shakes her head.
"Come on, I'll take you to your mama" I assure her again and she lets me take her up in my arms. I take a look around. The kidnapper is lying on the ground, with Ed kneeling on his back, cuffing his hands, while Sam and Leah still point their weapons at him.
"Subject contained" Ed declares. "And the little girl is save and unharmed."

As we decent the stairs and walk into the main hall, Miss McAlister rushes towards me, crying, to take her little girl out of my arms.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you so much" she whispers as she clutches to her crying daughter. The EMS waiting right behind her to check the girl for injuries.

"Good job everyone" Greg declares as we sit down again in the briefing room at HQ.
"The subject, confirmed as Mr. Phil Reed Jr., was afraid the paternity test would confirm the rape of Miss McAlister, three years ago. He decided to get rid of the, as he believed, only evidence against him – the child – and kidnapped her during the weekly trip to the shopping mall. He must've watched her closely before, or had hired someone watching her every step. He also had connections to one of the security guards, Mr. Carl Benson, who explained the standard procedure of lockdown during an emergency like a missing child. Also, Mr. Benson took his keys home and gave them to Mr. Reed, so he could access the no longer used security station between third and fourth floor, where the suspect planned to wait until the shopping centre would be clear. He planned his escape most likely for the night, when the searches would have been unsuccessful and the police and visitors would've been dismissed. There is no confirmation as to what he had planned to do with the girl. Official charges against him are being pressed. Any questions left?"
Greg takes a look at all of us and smiles as no further questions come up.
"Good. You did well today, all of you." As soon as the boss dismisses us, the chatter between the other members of Team One starts, and I again am left feeling a bit unsure and indecisive, until someone pats my shoulder.
"Come on, rookie." I look up into Sam's smiling face. "I'll show you around a bit."