Huge thanks to anmodo as always for betaing this fic. And thanks to everyone that has reviewed so far. Oh and I forgot to say this fic will be told in the same format as a Without a Trace episode.

Chapter 2

Tuesday 7th December – 1130 hours

Danny's apartment – South Bronx

Jack stood in a daze as the various people started to filter into Danny's apartment. He couldn't look at the bathroom any longer – too afraid to think of what had happened to his agent. He leant against the wall and closed his eyes. What the hell had happened to Danny? He lived in a shit hole of apartments, but he was smart and highly trained.

"Jack!"

He spun around to meet the voice, to see the remaining two agents on his team. He was lost for words; he didn't know what to say. All he could do was stand and stare as the forensic guys torn through Danny's ransacked apartment.

"Jack," Viv tried again when she didn't get a response. She held her hand to her to mouth as she surveyed the damage. "Jack what the hell happened in here? Where's Danny?"

"I don't know, hopefully the forensic unit will tell us," Jack replied in a distant voice. He looked around the apartment and closed his eyes. What had happened? Did he want to know? With the state of the bathroom he knew it wasn't good.

"Agent Malone," one of forensic guys called out. "Agent Malone, there is something you should see."

Jack frowned and nervously walked towards the bathroom – dreading what he was about to find out. He took a breath as he walked into the tiny blood stained bathroom. "Yes," asked. he tried to keep the fear out of his voice, but as soon as the words left his mouth he knew he had failed.

"U-mm, w-we found this," Agent Simpson stammered – nervous of how Jack would react. He knew Jack's reputation of being fiercely protective over his team. As he held up the small, blood stained, crumpled metal object, he closed his eyes and winced anticipation of Jack's reaction.

Jack gasped and grabbed hold of the door frame for support. He bit back the pile that was rising in his throat. Just what the hell had happened? He now knew what was the cause of all of this blood. But if Danny had been shot why the hell hadn't he contacted him or at the very least seeked medical attention, Jack thought. He continued to stare at the blood stained bullet, as he tried to find his voice again. "How long will it take you to get a DNA match?" he asked in a small, shaky voice.

"A few hours," Agent Simpson replied.

"What about blood type?" Jack asked.

"A few minutes, but I doubt that's going to help."

"Please just do it," Jack asked quietly

"Jack?" Viv said as she came beside him. She observed his nervous body language and added. "What's happening – oh my god," she exclaimed and covered her mouth as she stared at the blood stained bathroom. She took a couple of calming breaths before continuing. "There's something else isn't there Jack."

"U-mm, u-mm yes, yes there is," Jack stammered, not knowing what to how to tell her about what they had discovered in the bathroom. "Viv they found a bullet."

Viv felt as though the air had been sucked from her lungs. She didn't know what to say. "U-mm but Jack we don't what happened. It might not be Danny's blood."

"Viv if its not Danny's blood then why is it in Danny's bathroom?" Jack asked. He didn't think his agent would shot someone and run away but then again a few hours ago he didn't think his latest case would be one of his agents. He closed his eyes briefly before staring into the bathroom again. He raked his hands through his hair as he waited for the blood group test. But he knew what the result was going to be. He knew it was Danny's blood, but if it was Danny's blood where was Danny? He stood outside looking into the bathroom, it was as thought he could see what happened to Danny.

Fade in

Danny staggered into his apartment; he quickly slammed the door and leant against the wall as he felt the room spin. Pain tore through his shoulder; his breath came in short, ragged bursts. He scanned his apartment for something that he could wedge against the door. He knew he didn't have the strength to anything heavy with one arm across his tiny apartment, so the chair would have to do. After he wedged it under the door handle, he staggered to the bathroom and collapsed against a wall – letting himself slide down it. He balled up and a towel and pressed against the still bleeding wound. He felt tears of pain stream down his and bit down on his lip to prevent himself from crying out. His life as he knew it was over – not that anyone cared about it apart from himself. He didn't know who he could trust. Going to hospital was top dangerous. He didn't care about his life but he did care about the people at the hospital that he could put at risk if he went. He didn't think he could trust his new colleagues – he had only known them for three weeks. And he could help thinking that he had seen Phil somewhere else.

He pulled back the towel; it seemed that bleeding had slowed. But he would have to deal with the wound now; he didn't have any other choice. He had to move on; he guessed this was his life now. He always knew it was a matter of time before his past caught up with him. He stared at the wound for a moment before he pulled out his knife and selected the pliers. It was going to be painful not to mention dangerous to pull the bullet from his shoulder – but what choice did he have. He had no idea if the bullet was 'plugging' the bleeding. But if he left the bullet in it could enter his blood stream or his lungs and that, will that would be the end of his life. He grabbed a hand towel and bit down on it. He took a breath and dug the pliers into his shoulder as he tried to locate the bullet. He felt the room spin again as pain threatened to overwhelm his body. He bit down on the towel as he clamped the pliers around the bullet and pulled. His vision became blurred and his world became to grow dark. He wanted to go towards it. But he couldn't - if he did he probably would never wake up again. If it was not from shock it would because the men chasing him had finally got up with him.

His head shot up as he heard heavy footfalls and raised voices. It was time to go; he had already spend too much time here already. He forced himself to stand and felt himself sway. He wondered how long he could go before his body finally gave out. He wondered if the team would look for him and if they would find his tortured, bullet ridden body. As the voices got closer he knew his primary escape as blocked his only way out was the window. He took one final at his apartment… at his life before he dragged his body out of the window and into the darkness.

Fade out

"Agent Malone"

Jack's head shot up and he span around to face the voice. He knew what Agent Simpson was about to tell him. He knew the blood was Danny's – he just didn't know where or what had happened to his agent. "What is it Agent Simpson?" he asked calmly as he could. But he didn't feel calm, he felt anything but calm. He wanted yell and scream. This was so insanely unfair, what had Danny ever done to deserve this?

"Agent Malone, the blood group is AB-. Now because of how rare this blood type is it seriously narrow down our search," Agent Simpson explained.

Jack sighed and held his head in his hands. "Don't worry there's no point, I know whose blood it."

"Agent Malone?"

"Danny is AB- and considering only 1 percent of the country is AB-, tell me what are the chances someone of that 1 percent bled in Danny's apartment!" Jack said almost yelling. He knew from the moment Danny was late something was wrong. But now it was confirmed - something had happened to Danny and it was his job to find out.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Tuesday 7th December – 1230 hours

26 Federal Plaza, Manhattan

"So shall we get a timeline together?" Jack said tiredly.

"Well we finished up early and he left with us," Viv started, as she sadly looked at Danny's empty desk – wondering if it would be filled by Danny again. "So the last time I saw him was 4 pm."

"Me too," Phil said speaking up, he shifted comfortably under Jack's glaze. "What about you Jack?"

"Last I was of him was him leaving the building walking towards the subway," Jack replied.

"Why didn't take his car, doesn't he have a car?" Viv asked.

"He mentioned something about not finding the keys this morning," Phil said absently-mindedly.

"Okay," Jack said taking a breath. "So from what we Danny has been missing for twenty-six and half hours. Viv I want you to get hold of the subway surveillance videos, Phil go back to Danny's apartment see if anyone saw anything."

"What are you going to do Jack?" Phil asked guardedly – terrified of what Danny's history might reveal.

"I'm going to go through the whole of Danny's past, see if there is anything that might help," Jack replied. "I highly doubt Danny's disappearance has anything to do with his time on this team, nor his time at the FBI."

Viv shook her head sadly. "Jack with the amount of blood there was, and there was a god damn bullet there Jack, what's happened to him!"

"I don't know Viv, I don't know," Jack said sadly as he looked down. "But I am going to find out and I am going to bring him home."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Tuesday 7th December – 1400 hours

26 Federal Plaza, Manhattan

28 HOURS MISSING

Jack raked his hands through his hair as he pored through Danny's file. It had started straight forward, with nothing he had expected. He knew Danny was an alcoholic, he knew he had narrowly avoided a DUI conviction a couple of years ago. Danny had never directly mentioned his rough childhood, but when they had worked a case last week he had noticed Danny's reactions. The missing person had been a child in foster care, it turned out thirteen year old boy had known nothing but abuse. His father had abused him until his dead when Jake was ten, after that he had been passed from group home to foster home. Jake had been recruited by a local gang, thinking it was the chance for a better live he had gone willing. But it had gone rapidly down hill from there. He was used as a drug mule and Danny had found his bullet ridden body, it turn out he had been killed by a local gang. He knew the case had hit a little to close to home. Jack wondered just how close to home it had hit. As he read through Danny's file he began to realise how to close to home it had hit.

Jack stared at the note in Danny's file. He had a feeling… in fact he knew Danny's disappearance had something to do with what happen before April 17th 1990. But what happened, he didn't know. He closed his eyes as he tried to prepare himself to dive head long into Danny's past.