Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: The characters of Jack Malone, Samantha Spade, Vivian Johnson, Danny Taylor and Martin Fitzgerald are not mine. Other characters are. Without a trace characters belong to CBS, Hank Steinberg and Jerry Bruckheimer. I am just borrowing them for a while and promise to give them back relatively unharmed.

Spoiler: Spoilers up till the end of series 2. After that it's all made up. However, there may be some similarity with events in series 3, if there is that is completely unintended.

Author's Note: This follows on from Walking Disaster, you can access that from clicking on SpyMaster and going to my profile. Seeing as I have exams coming up I'm not sure how often I'm going to be able to update, so I ask for your patience. Thanks to cynically optimistic for being an amazing beta and reassuring me when I've felt that it was descending into crap. It's only thanks to her that this actually got written. I also want to say that while this is a casefile there is a large quantity of personal stuff. Anyways enjoy!

It had been an ordinary day on Wall Street. CTT Marketing and Shares had done well. One of their high-flying junior executives had spotted a trend, smoothly enabling them to scoop a cool three million dollars.
"Hey Anthony," Colin Masters called down the corridor, running to catch up with the man nearly at the end. Anthony turned, he looked exhausted. There were great big black rings around his eyes, his business suit was creased and rumpled and his tie was loosened and crooked. "I just heard about the score you made today. Congratulations, I guess we now know who'll be made the new senior executive at the end of the month." Anthony smiled tiredly and shrugged.

"I wouldn't be so sure Colin. I think there's more to the decision than one lucky break. Anyway, I'm not sure if I even want the job," Anthony admitted. Colin frowned in disbelief.
"Why wouldn't you want the job? You'd have to be nuts to turn it down," Colin told him. Anthony shook his head.

"I don't know, Colin. All this." Anthony gestured around him not pointing to anything in particular, he didn't have to. The whole place screamed money, from the original art works hanging on the wall to the designer coffee mugs. "I don't know if it's for me. I'm thinking of quitting." Colin gaped. He clearly couldn't understand his friend's sentiment.

"Anthony, think about it, please. Think about what you'd be throwing away. You're not thinking straight right now; you're tired. It's been a long day. Go home, sleep on it and I'm sure you'll come to a more logical decision in the morning." Just then a clock somewhere in the building started to chime. Colin pushed the sleeve of his beige, designer suit up to check his silver Rolex watch. "Now look I've got to run or I'll miss my train. Think about it, okay?" He slapped his colleague on the shoulder by way of a parting gesture before running back up the corridor. Anthony shook his head as he turned back down the corridor towards the elevator. Colin didn't understand; nobody understood. Anthony pressed the button. For a change the doors opened immediately revealing it to be deserted. Taking a deep breath, Anthony stepped inside and vanished.

CTT Headquarters
14 hours missing

Sam walked into the spacious lobby. Her first thought upon entering the room was to wonder whether she was in the right place, because where she was sure didn't look like a lobby. All the furniture was made of teak, which must have cost a bomb. All the fittings were either gold or gold-plated, the way they shone it was difficult to tell. There was only one word to describe what she saw and that was lush. Even the colours used on the walls added to the feeling of money, they were rich, deep colours, reds and purples. Spying Danny over the other side talking to a uniform Sam headed over to him. Just as she got there, the uniform left.

"Some place huh," Danny commented smiling at Sam's dumbstruck expression. He'd been here for an hour already and the surroundings had done what they always did, blended into the background. He was sure though that when he'd first entered he'd sported an identical look.

"We are definitely in the wrong business," Sam told him shaking her head in disbelief at the amount of money the decor must have cost; she'd just noticed that the floor was marble. "What have we got?"

"Anthony Bates, twenty-eight. He's a junior executive for CTT Marketing and Shares. He was last seen leaving this building at eight last night," Danny reported reading the details off his notebook. "Viv's interviewing Anthony's boss David Gristoft and Martin's checking out the security videos."

"No Jack?" Sam asked puzzled. Jack had been in Chicago for three days now which was three days more than intended. "I thought he was due back today."

"He is. I got a call from him about half an hour ago. His flight was delayed. He'll be here in an hour or so." Sam nodded. She wasn't sure why she wanted Jack to be here, she didn't know why she missed him. A small voice in the back of her head kept whispering that it was because she was scared he wouldn't come back at all, that Maria would realise what she'd lost and take him back, a chance which Jack would jump at. It was a very small voice though and not one she wanted to listen to right now. She was too confused. It felt like all her feelings and emotions had been tossed up in the air and she was now playing fifty-two card pickup with them. Only this game required that she sorted all the cards before she retrieved them. Danny cleared his throat, Sam jumped startled suddenly realizing that she'd been lost in thought too long.

"So what are we doing?" Danny grimaced.

"We've drawn the short straw. We have the arduous task of interviewing everybody Anthony came into contact with yesterday, in order to construct some semblance of a timeline and find out his mood. Some locals are going to help and Jack can pitch in when he arrives." This time it was Sam's turn to grimace, unless they hit pay dirt early on, this task could take days.

"No girlfriends or relatives?" Sam asked hopefully, already knowing the answer. Danny shook his head, he understood what she was getting at, girlfriends and relatives were always the first port of call.

"Only his mother, who's in the advanced stages of Alzheimer's. I've got a couple of agents on his apartment, so far nothing of import." Sam nodded in resignation. This was not going to be fun.

CTT Headquarters: David Gristoft's office
14 hours missing

Vivian looked out of the window at the skyline captured there. The view looked like the picture postcard that tourists inevitably purchased to remind them of their stay in the city. As it was a corner office there were two views, both equally as spectacular. She was so mesmerised by the view, she didn't hear David Gristoft enter the office and come up behind her.

"It is a beautiful view," he commented almost distractedly. "You know this office would have been Anthony's, I was going to recommend him to succeed me when I get promoted at the end of the month."

"Would have been? Was going to? That's the past tense Mr Gristoft. Do you have reason to believe that harm has come to Mr Bates?" David Gristoft instinctively stepped back from Vivian and held up his hands as if to ward off an attack.

"No, no, wait a minute. I just . . I . . well... He's not here. This job meant the world to Anthony. No matter what happened, he was always here. He's never even taken a sick day, let alone any vacation time. I guess I just figured that if he wasn't here then something must have happened to him," he explained. Vivian nodded, digesting not just the answer but how it had been delivered. At the beginning he'd been stammering and stumbling over his words but by the end he was very slick and confident - a practiced liar or just somebody who can think on their feet and recover quickly? Vivian wasn't sure, but she did know that she didn't trust him.

"I see. So, in your opinion, Anthony wasn't somebody to just walk away. The person you just described to me sounds like they could have been stressed. Was he stressed, Mr Gristoft? If so could he have suffered some kind of breakdown?"

"Anthony? No. He was a workaholic, sure. But he loved his work. It wasn't like work to him." Gristoft struggled to explain. "Having the responsibility of all those people's money can be stressful. We lose many good junior executives a year because they burn out. Anthony though, he was never wrong. He was a winner and he knew it. It was a game to him, a game he took seriously but a game nonetheless."

"Did he have any problems at work that you know of? No irate investors or jealous colleagues?" Anthony's employer shook his head.

"Well what about his personal life. Any girlfriend troubles . . ."

"I really wouldn't know about that," he interrupted her checking his gold Rolex watch. "I admired Anthony but I was still his boss, not his friend. You'd be better off talking to Colin, Colin Masters. He and Anthony were good friends, they played squash together."

"Thank you, Mr Gristoft. We'll do that." Vivian smiled civilly before exiting, leaving David Gristoft staring out of the window. As the door closed, he let out a huge sigh of relief.