Chapter 2
Nicole and Antonio had to show their badges ten times just to get up to Jess' door. The police was everywhere in the building, searching each and every room, looking for any place Jess or Jared Hart could possibly be. They were swarming about, and the entire building echoed with radio calls. Normally, the police doesn't take this much interest in a break in. But this break in was in an FBI agent's apartment, possible because of an escaped convict, and now that agent is missing. Missing. Just thinking the word made bile rise in Nicole's throat. Jess wasn't missing, she was just…out. She had to be, just had to be.
"Nic?" Nicole turned around to see Antonio looking at her, concerned, holding out a pair of latex gloves. "They want us to go in, see if we can find anything that was specific to Jared Hart." Nicole nodded mutely and they stepped over the threshold, Antonio keeping a hold of her elbow. It wasn't like Nicole to be so emotional and worried, and he found that it made him worry more, about her and about the situation. Jess was an amazing person and a great agent, and if Jared Hart had dared to try anything... Antonio knew he wasn't going to be the only one bringing down their wrath upon Hart. Nicole had quite a bite, when provoked, and Jess was...family. No one messes with the family of a law enforcer.
"Oh my god," Nicole said in a tight voice and turned around, so she wasn't looking directly at it. The apartment was a mess, with everything tossed in opposite corners and the furniture was ripped in places. Couches were overturned, a leg was broken off of a chair and lay in the mist of a broken coffee table, and the TV looked as if someone had chucked it across the room; it was broken with a large gash threw the screen and was on the opposite side of the room from the TV stand. In one corner, near the door, was a large dash of blood. It was on the wall in a huge stain, and had dripped down to cause a puddle on the white carpet.
Antonio walked over to the bloodstain, just knowing that this blood had to belong to Jess. It was an unhealthy amount of blood to loose, but it wouldn't kill someone right away. If Hart was hurt, his car wouldn't have left the apartment and Jess could have gotten away. Jess was in danger…Jared Hart must have attacked her and carried her off somewhere, and she was bleeding heavily. From that angle, it looked like a head wound, and those are never good.
The agents stayed another hour, Antonio collecting samples of blood and strands of hair to take back to the lab, and Nicole, doing her best to think of any place Hart might have taken Jess. Doing her best not to fall down and cry. Jess was bleeding heavily, and kidnapped by a madman who had escaped from prison. The only hope they had was that Jess had gotten away from Hart, or that it might not have been Hart. He was their lead suspect, and they were quite certain there had been a kidnapping, but Nicole was hoping to find out that it wasn't as bad as it seemed.
"Agents? We have something you might be interested in." Someone called out from the hall. Nicole and Antonio shared a long look, and scurried over their fast. It could be good, it could be bad, but whatever it was it had to do with Jess.
"We took this off the surveillance camera in the hall." The officer handed Antonio a grainy picture printout. Antonio and Nicole looked at it, curiously, and Nicole felt a moan escape her throat. The picture, although of bad quality, clearly showed an unconscious Jess with a huge gash on her forehead in the arms of a very angry looking Jared Hart.
