CHAPTER IV

"Josué Hernández?" Flack looked at the man putting on a pair of worn out shoes in the dressing room. "That would be me", Josué answered, not taking his eyes off the ground. He sluggishly stood up from the bench and carefully limped towards his locker to pull out his checked vest. He turned it around and retrieved a small pack of cigarettes out of the right pocket.

Flack sighed heavily at the ignorance of the old man and stepped forward. "NYPD… Listen, I need to ask you some questions", Flack said flashing his badge. Back at the precinct, it had only taken him one phone call to find out which driver had been assigned to the nightshift on line 5.

"Oh, I'd love to sit down with you and chat", Josué put on a sarcastic tone, "but I'd rather get some sleep. It's 5 a.m. in the morning, I just got of a long shift and I'm really tired. So, can we do this another time?" Josué put on his moldy hat and limped right passed Flack towards the door.

Flack turned around and shook his head in disbelief. "Or, I could give you a ride to the precinct", he called out towards Josué. "… if that's what you want." Josué stopped dead in his tracks and turned his head around.

"Have you seen this woman?" Flack pulled out a photograph of Jo and almost tossed it into Josué's face. Flack felt rather uncomfortable flashing Jo's photo in front of a random stranger and nervously shuffled his feet on the dirty ground. He carefully monitored the look on Josué's face and prayed that he would recognize her.

"I… I'm not sure", Josué stated. He stroked his fingers through his short beard and glanced over to Flack.

"Look again", Flack said, still holding out Jo's photo.

"Listen, a lot of people get passed those subway doors at night", Josué cast his eyes away.

"Look again", Flack sternly muttered, desperate to find out who did this to Jo.

Josué looked up at Flack and grunted loudly. He moved a little closer and pulled off his hat to rub his forehead. "Mmm…", Josué hummed after a couple of seconds, "I guess I do recognize her."

Flack let out a relieved sigh and put down the photo. "So, you've seen her?"

"She got in on the first wagon right behind the driver's booth", he explained, "I guess I was able to see her face."

"Did anything suspicious happened?" Flack asked, growing more impatient by the second.

"Some girl got harassed by some boys in that wagon", Josué sighed, "That woman in the picture intervened and got off at the next stop, with the girl." Josué turned around and moved towards the door again. He pulled a cigarette out of his pack and lit it in the dark of the corridor.

"Okay, just a minute", Flack shouted. "Some girl? Some boys?" Flack followed Josué outside. "Can you describe them?" Flack nervously asked. "And what about those boys? Did they get off too?"

"I didn't really pay attention", Josué answered, blowing some smoke in Flack's face.

"Really?" Flack frowned and put on an indignant look.

"Listen, these things happen all the time." Josué scoffed. "I really don't have anything else to say to you." Josué turned around. "Good night."

Flack watched as the old man made his way out of the corridor. He quickly retrieved his cell phone and dialed Mac's number.

"Okay, got it." Mac quickly hung up his phone and walked into the lab where Adam was carefully observing all the footage he had pulled from the subway station.

"Did you find anything yet?" Mac asked. He stepped over to Adam and peeked over his shoulder.

"I found the footage of Jo getting on the subway", Adam said. He returned to the main menu on his computer, and carefully rewound the footage with a swift movement of his hand across the mouse pad. Mac's heart jumped in his chest when Jo suddenly appeared on the large screen. He immediately directed his look towards her face and thought she looked rather worried. He shook the idea out of his head, and immediately blamed it on his restless imagination. Upon arriving, Jo walked over to the edge of the platform and curiously glanced into the dim tunnel, checking if the train wasn't arriving yet. After that, she spun around and started pacing, sporadically looking at her watch. "Nothing suspicious, right?" Adam broke the silence and tilted his head.

Mac was startled by Adam's sudden comment and pulled his eyes of the large computer screen. "Right", he merely stated.

"So, the train arrived at 9.51 p.m. and she got on, alone", Adam said. "I also pulled the footage from the platform she got off", Adam continued. "She was accompanied by a girl, apparently", Adam instantaneously fasted forward the footage. "The girl briefly exchanged some words with Jo", Adam murmured, describing the blurred image on his computer screen. "But then, the girl steps away and Jo heads the other direction."

"I just got off the phone with Don", Mac said. "The subway driver told him that a girl got harassed by two boys and that Jo intervened straightaway."

A slight grin appeared on Adam's face when he thought about Jo helping the young girl out. "Off course she did", he whispered under his breath. "Could this be the girl?" Adam glanced back at the large computer screen.

"Positive, the subway driver said they got off together." Mac confirmed, pulling up a chair. "Can you enhance the image?" He motioned towards the screen.

"Just a second…" Adam quietly mumbled. He entered the code to enlarge the image into the best possible quality. He let the computer run, and blinked several times in an attempt do away with the fatigue that was incessantly violating his eyes. He looked up at the clock hanging on the wall, and a slight headache surfaced when it suddenly occurred to him he'd already been searching the footage for more than four hours straight. All of a sudden, the computer beeped and showed the result of its processing. "That's the best I can do", Adam said.

"Good enough", Mac answered. "Search all the possible databases."

"Got it", Adam replied.

"Did you pull the footage from the stop after Jo got on?" Mac asked.

"Uh... I… I didn't… I can't", Adam hesitated.

Mac didn't answer and threw Adam a stern look of disbelief. He moved his lips to form the word 'Why…', but got stuck in a violent maelstrom of thoughts. Adam swallowed hard at the wrinkled face of Mac and nervously ran his fingers along the muscles of his neck.

"Apparently, the camera on that platform has been broke for over a month."

"You gotta be kidding me, right?" Mac raised his voice.

"I… I'm not", Adam answered.

"Those two boys got on the train on that platform", Mac raised his voice in disbelief.

"Okay", Mac rubbed his forehead and tried to regroup his thoughts to find another solution. "So what about the footage of the platforms after Jo got off?" He asked.

"I pulled it, but no sign of those boys getting off."

"Are you sure?" Mac's voice trembled under the setbacks he had to endure.

"Positive", Adam muttered.

"But how is that possible? They must have gotten off somewhere?" Mac started pacing around the room, putting his hands in his pockets in a vain attempt to disguise the violent way they were trembling in frustration. Adam fell silent and followed the nervous movement's of his boss in great awe. He wondered what it possibly could be that downsized Mac into a loose cannon. "I have no idea, Mac", he simply stated. "Maybe they just stayed seated when the subway turned around again."

Mac let out a loud infuriated sigh and squeezed his eyes together. He felt a throbbing headache coming on and rubbed his fingers across his forehead. All he wanted to do was lie down for a while and forget about this whole mess. His thoughts wandered off to Jo again and his stomach clenched together at the image off her lying there on the hospital bed. He thought he heard her desperate sobs echoing inside his head again, causing his head to spin.

The thought of losing her made tears accumulating in his eyes. He couldn't lose her, ever. And certainly not before he told her how he felt about her. Immediately, feelings of despair gave away for feelings of self blame and regret. He kicked himself mentally for not telling her sooner how he felt about her. He was a broddler if it came to matters of the heart. Always scared off the light at the end of the tunnel. He'd just crawl back into the gloom of his self-induced isolation. That way, he didn't have to lay his heart on the line and run the danger of getting hurt. He had always thought of it as the better option, until now. He straightened his back lightly and pressed his lips together. He felt the strength accumulating in his chest and felt the courage slowly dripping into his heart. And so, right then and there, he decided to give himself a deadline. One week, to tell her she meant everything to him. Because there might be no other chance of finding love again. He felt his blood pumping through his veins at the thought of the decision he had just made. He felt his heart raging through his skin and sweat accumulating on his forehead. You only live once, he thought to himself. You only live once, you only… "Mac!" Adam suddenly shouted.

Mac was sucked right back into reality and opened his eyes to find a picture of a blonde girl in her twenties displayed on the computer screen.

"We have a match", Adam nervously turned in his chair and pulled up all the information.

"Annabelle Boye", Mac mumbled as he ran his eyes over her profile.

"She works in the Loeb Boathouse restaurant in Central Park", Adam informed. "No priors, nothing that would indicate she'd want to beat the hell out of a random stranger."

"Maybe she'll be able to identify those two boys", Mac completed, and glanced over to his watch. It was almost 6 a.m., and time was ticking faster by the minute. "I'll get everyone to meet up in the conference room within a half-hour", he said. "We'll discuss all the findings, and then decide what to do next." Mac walked away from the lab and pulled out his cell phone. He felt a wave of dizziness rolling over him, but he certainly wasn't about to slow down.

It has taken me forever to update, and I apologize for that. Man, oh man, blame it on society's great responsibility's. Okay, so Mac may be on to something. Tu-dum-dum. Let me know what's on your mind.