Hotel Laurentius, Washington D.C.

November 27, 9 p.m.

Jack was exhausted after two hours of answering questions that seemed to be going in circles. It was too late to return to New York City and, besides, the OPR agent had made it pretty clear that there would be more questions. It was a wonder to him that he had not yet been suspended. Officially, he was just in Washington, DC, to investigate the shooting of one of his agents. So far, it was just like he had expected:  the probing questions were normal after shootings gone bad. It was normal that his abilities as a leader were being questioned; that was not what was off-putting to him. It was what had happened to their original case:  the still unsolved disappearance of a mother and her six-year-old daughter and the fact that the case had been closed so suddenly, just like that. Especially since the shooter of an FBI agent, was still at large and had clear connections with those two disappearances. "It was especially disturbing that the shooter of an FBI agent was still at large and had clear connections with those two disappearances." 

When he got back to the hotel room, he turned his cell phone back on, intending to try to call Samantha and Danny again. When he saw that he had a voice mail message, he assumed it to be from one of his agents. Already relieved that he had worried over nothing, he was surprised to hear Maria's voice when he started to play back the message.

"Jack, you were supposed to pick the girls up from school. Please call me back." Maria didn't sound angry, but cold. It wasn't what she had said, it was what it meant. He had once again put his job first, before his family responsibilities. Jack sat down on the bed, replaying the message over and over, trying to detect a hint of feeling in it. But he couldn't. Whatever passion and love that had been between him and Maria seemed dead. They had tried. He had been committed to working on his marriage, but deep down he knew that they were beyond saving. After he had gotten home from the bookstore that morning, he had still believed that they could do it, but now he saw that the belief had been inspired by what Barry Mashburn had told him and was not based on the real state of their relationship. It had gone downhill from there. After the explosion of the bomb in the parking lot, he had known for sure. He had known that it was over, that trying was no longer an option. He hadn't even made the effort to call to tell her that he was going out of town.  In retrospect, he could see that he had already given up at the point. It was odd;  when they had gotten married, he had never thought it would end like this---that one evening he would sit on a hotel bed, alone, and realize that it was over. It was not when he had been with another woman that he had come to this realization, but alone, at a point when all areas of his life seemed to have reached a low. Jack sighed. Having the internal certainty that his marriage had failed wasn't what he had needed that night, but in a shameful way, he was relieved. The endless lies would hopefully finally end---that is, if it wasn't too late.  Maybe he had already become the kind of person who lied. He lied to his wife, lied to his supervisors, and lied to the agents who trusted him. He had become a liar.

Danny was now genuinely worried. His mind was racing through the possibilities of what might have happened, while he was trying hard to remain calm. He was trained to do this; it was his job to know how to handle himself in a difficult situation. Finding people was what he did for a living, after all. He went over to the main building of the motel to ask the owner whether he had seen Samantha.

"I know who you're talking about, but I didn't see her. I have been watching TV all afternoon, and I don't see when who comes and goes." The owner shrugged, clearly not very interested in Danny's concerns.

"Can you please take a look in her room to see whether my partner is all right?" Danny asked, trying to remain friendly. He had hesitated for a moment. He was probably overreacting---the last thing they needed on this case---but his nerves too, were frayed by the events.  Samantha might be upset about him checking up on her like that, but if something had really happened to her and he hadn't done anything, he wouldn't easily be able to forgive himself.

"Do you have the right to do that?" the owner asked. "Don't you need a warrant or something?"

"I do have the right and, no, I don't need a warrant," Danny lied.

"All right, all right. You work for the FBI, after all."  The owner rummaged around a drawer before fishing out the master key.

They walked over to Samantha's room. Danny knocked again just to make sure that she hadn't just been asleep before, but he didn't get an answer this time either, so he motioned for the owner to go ahead and open the door.

The motel room was empty. Danny thanked the owner and went in to have a look. He hoped to find out where Samantha had gone. Her jacket and cell phone were lying on the bed, but her gun and badge weren't there. This reassured him just a bit. It was odd that she would leave without her cell phone, but at least it explained why she had not answered his calls.

"Oh." Agent Robinson didn't answer immediately. "I'll meet you at the office."

"Okay." Danny was glad that at least now Agent Robinson was starting to take their case seriously. It was just sad that it took one shot agent and another one missing to get him to start working.

Highway in North Carolina

November 27, 9.15 p.m.

Samantha was tired. The fatigue had finally caught up with her. When Agent Robinson had offered to drive her back to the motel, she was more than happy to accept. Walking the twenty minutes back wasn't what she wanted to do. All she wanted was to lie down and sleep for a week. The pain in her arm was also back with a vengeance. She should have taken the nurse's advice more seriously.

Agent Robinson hung up his cell phone and took a turn towards the town only minutes later. At once, Samantha was wide awake again.

"What's going on?" she asked, trying to keep her voice even and hide the fact that she was suddenly scared.

"Your partner, Agent Taylor, was on the phone.  He found something he wants us to see, and he's waiting at the field office."

"Oh, okay." Samantha was embarrassed at having overreacted.

"I'm sorry.  I should have given you a warning," Agent Robinson added amicably. "Hopefully, it will be a break on your case."

FBI Field Office

November 27, 10.30 p.m.

In the parking lot, another agent was already waiting for them. She was young and looked like she had been crying. Samantha didn't recall having met her in the morning. But considering that only few agents worked at the field office, most of them were probably involved with their case.

"Good evening, Agent Severin. I really appreciate that you could come on such short notice. This is Agent Spade from the New York City field office," Agent Robinson introduced them on their way inside.

When Samantha shook hands with the younger woman, she noticed that her hands were shaking. Adding that to her dishevelled appearance, Samantha couldn't help wondering what was going on with Agent Severin. In fact, the entire scene was starting to seem strange to her. Why were they meeting another agent that late? What could Danny have found that was so important that it couldn't have waited until morning? The questions followed her, as the three agents went upstairs to Agent Robinson's office.

"Agent Taylor should get here in a minute," Agent Robinson said and, indeed, he was right.  In less than a minute, there was a knock on the door and Danny entered. He looked rushed, but when his glance fell on Samantha, he stopped. He seemed surprised to see her.

"Samantha?" he asked, sounding incredulous. "Is everything okay?"

"Yes, sure," she answered, not sure what he was referring to. Maybe he had called her cell phone, which she had left behind at the motel.

"What did you find out?" she asked, somewhat impatiently, after Danny didn't seem inclined to explain why he had called everyone to the office this late.

"What do you mean?" Danny asked, puzzled as well. There seemed to be a significant lack of communication. What exactly had Agent Robinson told Samantha? He recalled Agent Robinson's strange behaviour earlier that day and a suspicion started forming in his mind. He had dismissed all the coincidence as paranoia and over-speculation, but now he came to realize that he might not have been so wrong after all.

Samantha's thoughts were running in the same direction. She was still confused, but she started to sense that something was wrong.

"I don't understand. He told me that you wanted to see me about the case," she asked, while alarm bells were going off inside Samantha's head, but it was too late.

"What is going on here?" Agent Severin seemed confused now as well.  She turned to Agent Robinson, who was apparently the only one not confused by what was going on.

What happened next shocked both Samantha and Danny to the core. Of all the things, it was what they expected the least. Agent Robinson reached for Agent Severin's gun, which she was carrying in her holster.  Before any of them had a chance to react, a single shot was fired. Agent Severin collapsed to the ground, the puzzled expression still etched on her face, even when blood was started to pool under her head.