Chapter 5

Part 2

After Dixon left his office, Jack closed the folder that he was reading. He massaged his temples. The pressure in his head had returned. "Focus," he told himself. "If she's still alive then time is being wasted. There's something in one of these reports that I'm missing."

After resting his eyes for a few minutes, Jack switched on his computer and started putting the message out to all his government contacts that he needed their help and he was calling in favors. He would make contact with his black op contacts once he got home.

Although he hoped that somehow Irina would get word about what was happening and contact him, he wasn't sure if he wanted her involvement in any of this. He also didn't know if he could properly explain what had happened to their child.

"I can't think about her right now," he told himself. He looked at his watch. It was after five o'clock. Forensic should have had something ready by this time. He picked up the phone to call them, but put it down when Vaughn entered his office.

When he handed Jack a folder, Vaughn took a seat across from him. His sullen appearance mirrored Jack's.

Once he was seated, he told Jack, "They think she was unconscious before the fire. Her skull was cracked. They have a tentative ID with dental records."

While reading the report, Jack asked, "When will the DNA results be available?"

"They're rushing it through. It should be available sometime tomorrow afternoon. The NSC said that they'd authorize the release of the body once the DNA is confirmed."

"The NSC? What do they have to do with this?" Jack asked.

"They've taken charge of the investigation." Vaughn informed him.

"The hell they have. I'll take care of that later," Jack thought to himself.

Vaughn waited for Jack to say something more, but all he did was continue to read the paperwork in front of him. "Jack, what arrangements are you going to make? I'd like to help."

Jack looked up from the report he was reading and told Vaughn, "I'm not making any 'arrangements' until we get definite confirmation."

"Jack, the dental records are a match, the jewelry was hers, it was her house," Vaughn said, as he realized Jack was holding out false hope that the body in the morgue was not Sydney.

Vaughn was right. Jack was not ready to concede that the body belonged to his daughter. He was annoyed that Vaughn was so eager to bury her. "Tell me something Mr. Vaughn. You've been spending a lot time with my daughter. Spending nights at her house. Sleeping in her bed..."

"What are you getting at?" Vaughn asked suspiciously.

"Why not yesterday? What was so important that you decided to drop her off at the curb, instead of sleeping with her?"

Even though Vaughn had been asking himself that very same question, he became defensive when he heard Jack asking it. "I don't think I like what you're implying. Don't try and put the blame for this on me. If you would have kept her out of SD-6 none of this ever would have happened."

Jack gave him one of his infamous ice stares. Vaughn saw the hurt in Jack's eyes. He did not want to make this a blame game. He knew that Sydney would not appreciate him verbally abusing her father.

"Jack, I'm sorry. That was uncalled for. I didn't stay because Sydney was tired. She just wanted to go home and get some rest. Plus, she planned on getting up early so that she could get to the hospital to see you."

Jack too regretted his comment, but he had no intentions of apologizing to Vaughn, for anything. Instead he changed the subject. "Here," he said as he handed Vaughn a copy of a police report. "These people are the ones who called in the fire. This report tells me nothing. I want you to run a complete background on those people. Then I want you to bring them in for more questioning."

"Jack, they were teenagers, on their way home from a party."

"Are you going to do this, or should I find someone else to do it?" Jack asked him, impatiently.

Jack's lack of emotion finally got to Vaughn. He couldn't believe that he could be sitting at his desk, investigating a case, instead of mourning his daughter. "You, cold son of a bitch. Your daughter is dead. Can't you take a day out to mourn her?"

Jack had no intentions of sharing his feelings with Michael Vaughn. He told him, "Vaughn, if I can't have your full cooperation then you're useless to me. Get out of my office. I'll send someone else to talk to them."

Jack saw that Eric Weiss had been hovering close to his office. He was sure that he was there to support his friend. He called him into the office.

"Yes?" Weiss said as when he entered the office.

"This statement was taken by a traffic cop." Jack told him as he handed him the police report. "I want you to go back and re-interview these boys. I want you to draw out more of what they saw. If necessary make arrangements to have them hypnotized. They must have seen more than they realize. You know the routine."

Before Weiss had a chance to accept the assignment, Vaughn stood up and pounded his fist on Jack's desk. He yelled at him, "Is this all you ever think about, Jack? Work? Revenge? You're daughter is dead. Take a f****** day off to give her a proper burial. That's the least you can do for her."

Jack was not in the mood to listen to a lecture from Michael Vaughn. He stood up and pointing at the doorway he told him, "You're useless to me. I told you to get out."

Vaughn wasn't done telling Jack what he thought of him. He ignored his instructions to leave his office and told him, "You were never there for anything in her life. At least be there for her funeral."

"Get out." Jack repeated, loudly.

"Come on Vaughn, let's go." Weiss said as he tried to pull Vaughn away, while he was still yelling at Jack about his incompetence as a father.

As he pulled Vaughn out the office, Weiss told Jack that he would follow up on the police report.

Jack slammed his door shut when they left the office. He sat back at his desk and gripped the edge of it as he tried to get his breathing under control. He knew his short comings as a father. He didn't need Michael Vaughn to point them out to him.

Once he was able to calm down, Jack decided that he had to go home. He could no longer concentrate in his office. On his way out, he stopped at the morgue.

tbc