Chapter 9: The scene… –

After a half-hour drive, which seemed like an eternity to Jack, he and Bobby finally arrived at the clearing where Sue's car was found.

"What do you have so far?" Jack asked one of the agents at the scene.

"Not much I'm afraid" the young agent sighed. "Footprints between the place where Agent Thomas' car is and another set of tire tracks, of the possible abductor's car."

"Not car…Truck." Bobby said quickly while bending over the tracks. "Probably an F-150 or Durango, or an Avalanche maybe."

The younger agent looked at Bobby stunned and impressed athis skill. Bobby noticed and gave him a small shrug and a friendly wink.

"I take it a ERT team is on their way?" the young agent asked Jack, who nodded in return. "Then I'll let you do your job, I'll be right over there if you need me."

Bobby and Jack thanked the agent and watched him go momentarily then turned back to the scene.

Jack moved around the scene to get a better look at the footprints. "What do you make of these footprints, Bobby?" he asked Bobby.

The tall man moved closer taking up position next to Jack. "Well, those smaller ones are Sue's. But those, obviously the abductor's, look like boot tracks."

"That guy has a bigger shoe than me! Maybe he's wearing hiking boots of some sort?"

"Very possibly" Bobby answered.

"Think the tracks are good enough to identify the type of shoe and size?"

"Probably. That one right there might be a good…" Bobby started pointing when something caught his eye. "What in the world?"

Jack looked at his confusedly.

Bobby was looking at a patch of grass a couple of feet from the footprint he was pointing at. There was a faint glint at the bottom of the patch. Jack followed Bobby's eyes to the glint. Something metallic was peaking out of the mud and grass.

"What is that?" Bobby wondered.

"I don't know" Jack admitted, "but we better wait until Myles and the ERT team gets here."

"One of us should go help D."

Jack nodded in agreement, "I'll go. You stay here and find out what that thing is."

With that, Jack stood up and headed for his car, returning Bobby's farewell.

Jack returned to the bullpen and met up with D.

"Anything yet?" Jack asked.

"No, there were 3 or 4 people who noticed a truck on the side of the road as the were driving by, but none paying enough attention to do much identifying. It's pretty much a one-man job."

Jack's heart began to sink, "Do you have a time frame?"

"Best guess is between 6pm and 3am. Sue left here about 7, and the first person,that we have found,to spot it saw it at 3."

"Aright, good work, let me know if you get anything else."

D. nodded and left. Jack went over to the board, Tara and Lucy had put up a map and marked the park and where Sue's car was found. He stared at the map for a while until a small hand rested on his shoulder. He turned to find Lucy standing next to him.

"Lucy!"

"Jack, its time for you to go." she said quietly.

"Go? Go where?" he tried to act confused.

"Home, Jack. Its time for you to go home."

"But..."

"No buts" she cut him off, "Jack we'll call you when we have more."

"I'm not tired."

"But if you are going to stay here tonight and make us all go home, you need to go now."

She was right. He felt thin and stretched, and unfortunately, Lucy could tell.

"You need sleep" she insisted.

"Every time it close my eyes I see her, but she gets further and further away."

"I know" she gave his shoulder a small pat. "I haven't been sleeping well either."

"I'm afraid to sleep... I'm afraid that if I do, something will happen. Something I could have prevented... but I didn't because I was asleep. Then we would lose her..."

I'd lose her, he thought painfully.

"Jack, if anything happens we would tell you, you know that. But right now there is nothing for you to do. Go rest Jack" She finished in earnest.

He was about to dismiss her when she quickly added, "You're of no use to her if you can't even see straight, much less work or think straight."

That last comment squashed any argument that he had been forming in his head. It cut deep. He sighed and gave up. He would leave the bullpen, but he would go home.

"Ok, Luce, you win. I'll go." He sighed.

I'll go, but not where you think I'm going, he thought.

"Good," she said in a satisfied tone. "Now go before Levi wakes up."

Levi was sleeping next to Sue's desk, in his usual spot. His body was seemingly paler than normal. The sad dog had refused to eat since Jack found him. But then, none of them had really eaten much either. Hunger seemed to slide from existence. But, no oneseemed to care either. Quickly and quietly Jack slipped out of the bullpen. He wouldn't have minded if Levi followed him, but where he was going dogs weren't allowed. he didn't like to mislead Lucy either, but he couldn't make or allow himself to sleep. He was too awake anyway, drained but awake.

He quickly went home long enough to change into something more comfortable and grabbed his gym bag. Within half an hour he was in the Gym/Fitness Center he joined a while back. Ironically, because of Sue… Well, more to impress Sue. But over time, he found that he felt better than before. He could tell how much healthier his body felt since he started. Frankly, he enjoyed it too. He wasn't sure exactly why, he just did.

So, he cleared his mind and started going for machine to machine, pushing his limits on each. And time soon seemed to drift away...


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