Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: The characters of Jack Malone, Samantha Spade, Vivian Johnson, Danny Taylor and Martin Fitgerald 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 unharmed.

Spoiler/Rating: I'm not sure about the spoilers, I've seen up till the end of series 2 pretty much and haven't seen series 3. However I have heard spoilers and I'm not intending to give anything away but just because this may be going to way the writers are a full out spoiler warning is issued. As for the rating I think it's PG-13 but as it's intended to be just like an episode I wasn't sure.

Author's Note: This is the first casefile I ever wrote and only my second Without a Trace fanfiction. I took it off here because I wanted to rewrite it and use this casefile as the concluding part to my trilogy. However, I've had writers block like you wouldn't believe on it and so I've now decided to jack it in and write a new casefile which, touch wood, is going great. So apologies as you will recognise this. People who reviewed before, thankyou, and you don't have to review again. Anyway for new readers enjoy!

Harder to Breathe

It's a beautiful sunny afternoon in New York Jack noticed when he stepped out of the solicitors office. Yesterday he wouldn't have appreciated a morning like this, because his life was so dark and dreary but today he could finally start putting that behind him. Part of him was sad that it had come to this, a bitter custody battle and an ongoing feud between him and Marie was not the way he'd hoped his marriage would end. The other part of him was glad that it was finally over, he'd still get to see Hanna and Kate, albeit not as much as he'd like. Marie insisted on staying in Chicago and since she had been afforded sole custody that's where the girls would stay too, he'd be a weekend dad like he'd tried so desperately hard not to be. Just then his cell phone rang distracting him from his thoughts.

"Malone," Jack answered.

"Jack. a kid was just snatched at central Park," Vivian reported, her tone of voice businesslike.

"Ok I'm on my way in right now," Jack told her, unlocking his car.

"Her name's Emily Mason, she's four years old. She was grabbed and forced into a black SUV. Her father tried to stop it, getting a broken nose and three cracked ribs in the process. He's a trauma surgeon at City Hospital in LA. The mother is a detective with the LAPD. They have two older twin sons, Tom and Andy," Vivian gave him the lowdown. Jack thought for a moment before he issued the orders.

"Viv you go and bring the parents in. Tell Martin and Danny to go see what the NYPD have got, and have Sam phone LA, we're going to need their cooperation." Jack ended the call and sighed. Tensions were running high at work what with him leaving and then coming back. Things were difficult especially with Vivian, she'd had the shot at his job, finally the supervisor position she'd always wanted, until he'd come back and taken it away.

FBI Headquarters.
2 hours missing

Jack exited the elevator and headed immediately into the unit. He could see a man and a woman sitting at the conference table, a cup of coffee sitting in front of them looking cold and untouched. Vivian was at her desk talking to two eight year old twin boys and Sam was on the phone, she hang up when she saw him.

"The LA office is tasking a couple of agents to work this case from that end, they're going to concentrate on the grudge angle," Sam told him.

"You interviewed the parents yet?" Jack asked, Sam shook her head.

"Vivian thought that you'd like to do it, she's interviewing their sons." Jack nodded,

"Sit in will you," he ordered her before he walked over to the conference table extending his hand. "Special Agent Jack Malone, I'm in charge of this investigation. Could you tell me what happened please?" Jack asked flipping open his notebook.

"Well, we're here on vacation. You see I'm originally from New York, I wanted to show Tom and Andy exactly how much better the Yankees are than the Dodgers. We were just walking in Central Park, we'd been to see the sights this morning and were just, killing time I guess before we went to the game tonight. Andy and Tom were chasing each other and Emily had an ice cream," Sean Mason began.

Flashback Central Park

"Dad Andy stole my yo-yo," Tom complained.

"Only because he stole mine first," Andy retorted. Sean smiled and turned to face his sons, he had to sort out this dispute before it escalated. Aimee smiled too and turned to watch how Sean would handle this one, Tom and Andy were always fighting like this, probably because they were so close. Unnoticed Emily continued walking, happily slurping her ice cream.

"What did we say about stealing each others things?" Sean asked smiling a little still, Tom and Andy shifted a little looking at each other warily. Before either of them could reply a terrified scream rang through the air. Sean turned and saw that a man dressed all in back and wearing a balaclava was dragging Emily off towards a car.

"Emily!" Sean yelled and sprinted after her catching up with them in no time. Sean punched the man and tried to pull Emily away from him. Another man dressed the same as the first got out of the car, Sean didn't notice him struggling as he was with the first man. The second man pulled Sean off his comrade and punched him hard, dazed Sean started forward again but the second man kicked him hard in the chest winding him. Sean fell to the ground gasping for air, Aimee seeing him on the ground runs towards him reaching for her gun before remembering again that she didn't have it with her. She reaches Sean just as Emily is thrown into the car, it starts accelerating away before the door is closed. As it reaches the crest of the hill it vanishes.

End Flashback

"What I don't get it why nobody helped us," Sean finished.

"It happened very fast Sean, too fast for me and I'm meant to be a cop." Aimee laid her hand on top of her husbands. Sam could tell without seeing her face that she blamed herself. Just then the phone rang Sam leant over to answer it.

"Can you think of anybody, anybody at all, that might have a grudge against you?" Jack asked.

"I'm a cop, so anybody I've put away I guess," Aimee replied looking at the table, she couldn't meet Jack's eye, she couldn't meet anybody's eye, she blamed herself for this whole thing.

"I can't think of anybody," Sean said defensively, Jack frowned, he could just be angry with himself about losing the fight for his daughter, or he could be lying. Sam interrupted him thinking about it further.

"That was the Danny, they've found the car."