A/N : Thank you for reading and for all your reviews. I am very encouraged by your comments. I apologise for the slip-up in the previous chapter. I had assumed that the rest of the team would have worked out that Jo was missing but I should have made that clearer. Ah well you live and learn. So on with the story...

Chapter 10

"Jo called me at six this morning." Mac sighed as he recalled his early morning wake-up. He had fallen asleep on top of his bed and woken from a dream to the sound of Jo's voice. "Mac, there's something I need you to do." Mac leaned back in his chair. "She said that I had to find the crates that Nigel had taken. She said she was fine and wouldn't be harmed provided we return the sculptures to them by midnight tonight. They will contact me again at 9pm with the drop point."

"But we no longer have the gold and Marsh is monitoring our communications." Danny's hands punched through the air emphasising his anger and frustration. "What the hell are we going to do?"

"Er Boss. I have something... " Everyone had been looking at Danny so no one had noticed Adam come back in. "Ali Hanin called the switchboard yesterday looking for you. The calls were recorded and I analysed them. He was by the coast – sea, gulls in the background. I got the network operator to locate the origins of the calls. They were only able to narrow it down to this area of coast near Glen Head." Adam marked a circle on the map.

"Hmm." Sid frowned. "That's on the way back from the Hampton Bays. It's not far from the country club. I know the owner well. They have a fabulous chef. His Escalope Milanaise is out of this world...!"

"Adam, do we have an address for Someya Khalim … try under Finch?" Mac asked interrupting Sid's monologue on the gastronomic delights of the country club. He glanced at his friend knowing that his stories, as everyone called them were just a way of deflecting the horrors that they saw every day. Mac could tell Sid was upset about Jo. He had taken quite a liking to her. And he wasn't the only one...

Adam moved over to the console and looked up the DMV database. "According to her driving licence, yeah, she lives here." Adam added a marker to the map on the board near the coast and well within the zone he had marked. Mac forced his attention back to the matter at hand.

"Would Nigel have had time to drive out to the motel, unload the crates, drive Ali to Glen Head and still back to the mid-town tunnel?"

Adam thought for a minute bouncing his head lightly from side to side as he calculated the distances and times. He then looked back at Mac and nodded. "Easily."

Mac got up and walked over to the boards. He looked at each one carefully occasionally touching his finger to a map or photograph. He then stood immobile in front of the map for a few minutes. The others looked at one another but remained silent. One of Mac's great talents was sifting and ordering information and they knew that he was planning something. Suddenly he turned and looked at Sid, a strange expression on his face. He then turned back to the map. Everyone looked questioningly at Sid who merely shrugged at a loss to what Mac was thinking. Mac reached into his pocket and pulled out the piece of paper Henley had left and looked at it intently. He turned around slowly.

"Don't even think about it Mac." Don glared at him jabbing a finger in his direction. Mac arched an eyebrow. "You were about to tell us all to go home and then you were going to run off and do a one-man G.I. Joe rescue." The tiniest of smiles crossed Mac's face.

"Actually..." his smile got a little wider. "... more of a Sgt. Rock rescue but like any good soldier I was thinking more of a coordinated team effort." Everyone sat up a little straighter and watched him intently. Mac's face became serious once more. He opened his mouth to speak but was again interrupted, this time by Danny.

"And you can skip the part about if anyone wants out … no shame … etcetera ... etcetera ...okay?"

"Right!" added Sheldon. Sid, Adam and Reed all nodded in agreement.

Mac looked around the table at the determined faces and shook his head in resignation. He hadn't doubted for a moment that they would back him up. "Okay, first of all I need some simple answers to some simple questions. And I need to make some calls. We haven't a lot of time so just nod." Mac turned to face Sid. "You said you know the owner of the country club?" Sid nodded somewhat perplexed. Mac glanced back at the map before turning back to Sid. "Well enough to get us a private dining room for this evening, no questions asked?" Sid nodded again. "Okay do it … but don't use your cell or your office phone. And we need an Internet connection." Sid nodded again looking a little confused but he decided now was not the time to question and quickly left.

Mac turned to Adam "We need some communications equipment that Marsh can't track and two easily transportable computers that can connect to a satellite uplink." Mac handed Adam the piece of paper Henley had given him. Adam glanced at it, his eyes widening. "Don't lose it." Adam nodded enthusiastically. "Reed can you help him? I need everything there is to know about the Khalim's." Reed nodded and made to follow Adam out of the room. "Oh and Adam …?" Adam turned back. Mac had an amused smile on his face. "Do you still have that voice synthesizer software you were playing with the other week?" Adam blanched as the realization hit him that Mac knew about that. He nodded tentatively. "Good. Bring it." Mac turned away and Adam made a hasty exit followed by Reed, making a mental note not to play with cool software in the office especially one that allows you to imitate your boss.

"Danny, check out the cars. I need you to confirm that Someya Khalim owns a Land-Rover LR2. The blue Taurus is probably registered to her too. I also need to know profiles of who works for her, details of the house and the immediate area. Is Lindsay at home?" Danny nodded. "I need her to get Ellie from school. They're arriving back from a soccer tournament at 6pm. Tell her to expect a visitor later tonight and warn her about the phones just in case." Danny nodded again wondering what the hell Mac was up to.

"Sheldon, I hope it won't be necessary but we'll need a full emergency medical kit. " Sheldon rose from the table. "And er … get me some chloroform." Sheldon's eyebrows raised but he didn't question Mac. He was beginning to get an idea of what Mac was planning. Mac could see him shaking his head all the way down the corridor.

Mac turned to face Don his face a mask of worry.

"You think Jo is at Someya Finch's place don't you?" asked Don.

Mac nodded "Yes I do. I think that they must have been following me when we left the lab and they grabbed Jo as an opportune method of forcing me to find their gold for them. I think that all they want is the gold. Our only problem is if they really are planning an act of terrorism. Obviously they have access to explosives as they blew up the pick-up. Marsh said it was a crude home-made device set on a timer. I think Ali and Nigel were supposed to make the delivery of the sculptures but they got wise as to what was going on. I think that Ali discovered that Someya Khalim was masquerading as Simon Yates wife so they hid the crates at the motel and went to confront her." Mac hesitated and Don could almost hear his mind whirring as he tried to process the information. "Someya and her brothers discovered that they'd been found out so they decide to take out Ali and Nigel with the car bomb … but something went wrong. They didn't know about Ali's heart condition. Ali died prematurely. Nigel must have panicked and come looking for me." Mac paused and pinched the bridge of his nose. His headache was worsening but he didn't have the time for that now. He had to focus. He looked at Don.

"The sun sets just after six so it will be dark by seven. They're going to call with the drop point at nine - that leaves us a two hour window. I just hope to God I've got this right or this is all going to be for nothing."

"So what's our plan? And how do we stop Marsh from finding out what we're up to?" asked Don.

Mac's eyes sparkled for a few seconds as he looked at Don. "It's simple. We're all going to be enjoying dinner and a little poker at the country club."

"What?" Don looked at Mac as though he'd gone mad though he liked the idea of dinner.

"Don't worry I'll explain later but in the meantime we need to arrange some transport. You still got your friend's bike?" Don nodded. "Good let's make some calls."

Just under two hours later, two cars left the Crime lab. Mac was driving the first one with Reed sitting need to him. "Don't get those phones mixed up." Mac looked over at Reed who was biting his lip as he attached sticky labels to the phones. "Mac", "Don", "Danny","Reed", "Op 1", "Op 2"

"

Sid was driving the second with Adam in the passenger seat who, like Reed was labelling phones. He looked at the bags in the back seat. "We got everything?" Adam merely nodded concentrating on labelling all the phones correctly. "Hope Marsh hasn't got eyes on us or this game will be over before it starts."

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'CSI:NY - CSI:NY - CSI:NY - CSI:NY - CSI:NY'

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Agent Geoffrey B. Marsh wandered into the communications room with an air of self-importance and looked over Henley's shoulder. "Where are they going?" he asked as he peered at the street map on the screen.

The first moving circle showed three references. Henley pointed towards it. "That appears to be Detective Taylor with Detectives Flack and Messer. This second one is Dr Hammerback, Dr Hawkes and Adam Ross. I believe they're heading for the country club."

"The country club?"

"Yes sir. Twenty minutes ago we intercepted a call from Dr Hammerback to the Country Club confirming their dinner reservation for 7:30 this evening and informing them that there would be an extra guest. He said that they would be arriving a little early for drinks in the bar."

"Dinner?" Marsh looked confused. "Drinks?"

Henley did his best to keep a straight face. "Yes sir. The woman answering confirmed that it wouldn't be a problem. She seemed to be expecting them."

Marsh huffed but didn't look convinced. "Okay. Keep an eye on them. Is Finch back in the country?"

"No sir not yet . He is due in shortly."

"Good I want him picked up. If we can get him to confirm the presence of weapons and explosives in the house then we can get the go-ahead for a raid."

"What about Detective Danville?"

"Well that is an added inconvenience… er … of course, we will do everything we can to ensure her safety but national security is our first priority." Marsh stalked away leaving Henley with a sour taste in his mouth. He hoped that Mac Taylor was as good as his father had told him he was.

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'CSI:NY - CSI:NY - CSI:NY - CSI:NY - CSI:NY'

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Jo Danville was getting colder by the minute and every bone in her body seemed to ache. She had no idea how long she had been there or what time it was. Her stomach was rumbling and although she had been taken for another bathroom break when she had drunk some water they had given her nothing. Her head ached, her wrists were sore from trying to release the tape which had been tied even tighter than before, and the side of her face smarted every time she moved where the blindfold rubbed against the cut. She thought back to just after the bombing when Mac had confronted Marsh at the diner. His words came back to her … I have spent the last twelve hours in the company of your agents, fully cooperating with your enquiries, answering all your questions to the best of my knowledge without the courtesy of water, food, rest or medical attention … and she sighed. She remembered thinking at the time how outrageous that had seemed and now here she was in the same position only that no one was asking her questions. She wondered if Mac was all right. He should have had that head injury properly checked out. He had seemed so tired last night as though the weight of the world rested on his shoulders. She imagined him sitting in Simon Yates' bar, sipping his beer with that cute shy embarrassed look on his face. Crazy escapades huh? She would definitely have to find out what that meant. She imagined that she was there too, listening to his voice, smelling his cologne, feeling the warmth of his hand on hers. She wondered what he was doing right now ... she was jolted from her reverie as the key rattled once more in the lock and the door was flung open.

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'CSI:NY - CSI:NY - CSI:NY - CSI:NY - CSI:NY'

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Mac Taylor lay on his stomach. He could feel the cold of the damp ground seeping into his clothes. He inched his way forward across the rough ground, sharp stones digging into his elbows and knees. He paused and pulled the night scope from a pocket in his cargo pants. The sun had set an hour ago and it was almost dark except for the glow from the lights that lit up the garden and the terrace windows that overlooked the sweeping landscaped lawn. He swung the scope slowly across the back of the house. There were no guards patrolling around the house, no signs of life other than from the terrace windows where occasionally a figure could be seen walking past. The mobile phone in his pocket vibrated against his thigh. He pulled it out and listened carefully before hanging up without saying a word. He swung the scope back across the house. He hoped that Jo was all right. He hoped that she wasn't hurt. He hoped that she knew he was coming for her and most of all he hoped with all his being that he'd got this right.