11.5 hours missing
"Jack, Mrs Atkins!" exclaimed Martin
"What about her?" asked Jack confused.
"Well she's gotta be pretty pissed that someone killed her boyfriend,
and James Riley, Sam killed his brother. Its got to be them. Hasn't
it, they would have a grudge against Sam. It all fits Jack!" said Martin frantically.
"Yes, yes it does. Lets go talk to the kid again. See if he remembers
anything. Hey Viv," called Jack
"Yeah"
"Find out everything you can about James Riley and Lisa Atkins, see if there are any addresses that they may go to. Get Danny on it too when he gets back."
"OK. You think its them?" asked Vivian
"It may be. We're going to talk to her son."
Then Jack and Martin rushed out, both wanting to find the girl that
they love.
Soon after they had left Danny came back in.
"Hey." he said. "Where is everyone?"
"Jack and Martin have gone to talk to Johnny Atkins, they think it may have been Mrs Atkins and James Riley that took Sam as revenge. Did you find anything?"
Danny shook his head. "But it does look like you're right, she
definitely didn't go back there last night, beds made, nothing is out
of place. No finger prints at all, on any doors, or on the tape
machine. They definitely do know what they are doing."
Vivian sighed. "Its harder working on cases like this when you know the person. Puts things in perspective."
"Yeah. That's true." They shared a sad glance not wanting to think
about what could be happening to Sam at that very moment.
"So what are we looking for?" asked Danny
"Mainly addresses. Find out where they could have taken her."
"OK I'll get right on it."
They had been searching for only about 5 minutes, when the phone rang.
Danny who was nearest grabbed it. Both him and Vivian hoping that it was Jack with news about Samantha, but they weren't so lucky.
"Danny Taylor."
"This the FBI missing persons office?" came an unfamiliar voice.
"Yes can we help you?" said Danny giving Vivian a puzzled look.
The man chuckled. "I suppose so. But I think we'll have to be in close co-operation for this to work. So I guess we will be helping you too, in a way."
"For what to work?" asked Danny suspiciously gesturing for Vivian to pick up the other line, and pressed the recording button to record the conversation.
"You know that pretty blonde agent of yours? Do you ever want to see her alive again?"
As soon as he said that Vivian whispered to Danny to keep him talking so they'd have time to trace it.
"You have Sam?" asked Danny.
"Yes" the man replied.
"So I guess that makes you James Riley? Is Lisa Atkins with you?"
"Well you're clever. How long did it take you to figure that out?"
"Never mind that. You say you have Sam? I want proof."
Vivian got Danny's attention and shook her head. The line had been
unable to trace.
"I'm sorry she's a bit...how shall we put it...preoccupied at the
moment." said James glancing over at where a battered and bruised
Samantha lay near unconsciousness, with Lisa sitting next to her
brandishing a large, blood stained knife.
"I want proof!" said Danny angrily. "If you've hurt her I'll-"
"Do what? There is nothing you can do except listen to us and follow our instructions! I know you can't trace this. As I told you if you ever want to see her again you will listen to us. You will get proof. I will call again once you have it to see if then you believe us." The line then went dead.
"Damnit!" shouted Danny slamming the phone down, drawing the attention of the other agents in the room.
Vivian smiled apologetically at the other agents, before dragging Danny into Jacks office.
Danny immediately began to pace muttering to himself angrily.
"Hey. Hey! Danny. Calm down!" said Vivian. "We need to call Jack."
11.5 hours missing
"Hey Johnny remember us?" asked Jack
Johnny nodded.
"Can we come in, we need to ask you a few more questions."
"Ok."
As his mother was put in custody, they had found Johnny's dad, his
parents had separated and Johnny was staying with him for a while.
"Is your father in?" asked Martin
"Yeah. Hang on. Go in through there." he said gesturing to a door on his right.
Martin and Jack walked into the living room.
A few seconds later they were joined by Johnny and David Atkins.
"Please sit down." said David.
"Thanks." said Jack "We just needed to ask you a few more questions."
"Ok sure." said David.
"Johnny, did you ever meet James Riley? He was Ned's older brother."
"No I only met Ned and his friend Carl."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes positive."
"Ok." said Jack "Mr. Atkins, did you see Mrs. Atkins much recently?"
"I saw her a few times, mainly when I was picking up Johnny."
"Did she seem ok to you? You didn't see anything that hinted towards irrational behaviour?"
"No, she was always quite a proud person and never really let her
feelings show, but she didn't seem irrational or anything."
"Right-" Just then Jack's cell went off. "Excuse me."
"Malone"
"Hi, its Viv. We just got a call from Riley and Atkins. They have Sam."
"Did they say what they wanted?"
"Not exactly. Danny asked for proof that it was Sam, and well he.Riley got angry that we didn't believe him and said we would get proof then hung up. We recorded the conversation."
"Ok Martin and I will be back as soon as we can."
"Good, and Jack hurry. The longer we spend finding them the worse it gets for Samantha."
"Will do." Jack hung up and walked back over to where the others were sitting, his face displaying his anxiety and worry.
"Jack? What's wrong?" asked Martin
"They've got Sam."
Martin's face paled and he looked at Jack in shock. "Are you sure?"
"Almost definitely. They are sending us proof."
"I'm sorry, who's got who?" asked David
"You're ex-wife and Ned's brother have kidnapped one of our agents." said Jack shortly.
"Oh God. I'm so sorry. Do you know if your agents ok?"
"No we don't. Sorry we have to go back to the office. Thanks for your time."
"Of course." said David "Hope you find your agent."
Martin smiled grimly at David and Johnny before following Jack out to the car.
12.5 hours missing
Jack pressed the stop button after listening to the recording of
the conversation for at least the 3rd time. All the team were
incredibly worried about Samantha's safety.
"Ok." said Danny "I have the addresses of the property that Atkins and
Riley own, Atkins has the house 1888 Oakwood Street, James Riley owned an apartment uptown for 3 years but that was sold 1 year ago. There is nowhere listed that they may have gone to with Sam."
A knock on the door made them all jump. Jack walked over opening the door to Luke (another FBI who worked in the offices next to theirs) who was holding an envelope.
"Hey Danny. This came for you. It was delivered by taxi, the driver
said he was told to bring it here and make sure Danny Taylor got it."
"Thanks Luke" said Danny looking puzzled.
"Anytime. Hey where's Samantha?"
"She's off sick." replied Vivian lying uneasily, not wanting everyone
to know until they were certain.
"Well tell her I hope she feels better."
"Will do." said Vivian
After waiting for Luke to leave Danny opened the envelope
carefully, he looked inside, his face whitened and turned away gagging and dropped the envelope on the desk. Jack cautiously picked it up, looking inside as well, there was a chunk of Samantha's hair and several polaroids of her bruised and bloody face and body. "Well now we have proof." said Jack in a shaky voice. "We have to find her, and soon."
12.5 hours missing
"They should have the pictures by now." said Lisa, in a low voice to
James. "Think its time to call again?"
James turned his gaze on Samantha who was lying on the floor, she had just regained consciousness, and was still refusing to show any weakness, she was struggling to try and sit up. She felt his gaze on her, and looked at him uneasily, all the time trying to sit up. He looked thoughtful for a minute, watching her manage to pull herself into a sitting position, leaning against the wall.
"She's stronger than she looks, she doesn't want to show her pain or fear. She will be harder than I thought to break." he whispered. Then he nodded. "Yes let's call again, see what they think of our
photography skills."
James pulled out his cell and dialled the missing persons office.
"Martin Fitzgerald."
"Hello. May I speak to the person I spoke to before. Danny Taylor?"
"Who is this?" asked Martin.
"Are you Danny? No you're not. I would like to speak to him."
Covering the mouthpiece of the phone Martin said "Danny for you.
Guessing its Riley."
Danny took the phone from Martin and turned on the recording machine.
Martin went over to the desk and picked up the other line.
"James Riley?"
"Yes. Did you get the proof? Great pictures weren't they?"
"What did you do to her!!" yelled Danny angrily, worried about his best friend.
"Tut tut. Getting angry isn't going to solve anything. Now, for our
deal. We will give you back Samantha, if you do something for us."
"What?"
"For starters, the charges on Lisa are all to be dropped, and called a
'misunderstanding' or what ever you have to do to get her off."
Martin looked over at Vivian and Jack with raised eyebrows.
"Secondly, we want money. Enough to set us up, somewhere else, start a new life."
"And how much do you want?" asked Danny.
"How much is Samantha worth?"
"Why go to all this trouble? Why take Samantha?"
James chuckled "Don't you get it? This is the only way we can ensure that you will give us what we want. You couldn't just leave your agent to die could you? Also it gives us a perfect opportunity for revenge."
"Is Sam alright?" said Danny
Martin waited for the answer with baited breath, he couldn't bear it if Sam was seriously hurt. If only he had made sure she was inside that night. It was all his fault.
James paused. "Well she's alive." he said finally, "Hang on." He walked over to Samantha and held the phone up to her allowing her to talk.
"Speak" said James to Samantha gruffly.
"Hello?" said Samantha is a weak, raspy voice.
Martin let out a sigh of relief when he heard her voice.
"Sam? Sure is good to hear your voice."
"Danny?" she asked in a small, scared voice.
"Yeah it's me. How are you?"
She gave a bitter laugh. "Oh you know. Been better."
"Sam we-"
"Sorry don't want you talking too long, who knows what secret codes you
have." said James "You know, she's very pretty isn't she?" His voice
suddenly changing and containing a very sinister note to it that caused both Danny and Martin to snap to attention, they exchanged concerned looks that caught the attention of Vivian and Jack who had been talking quietly in another corner of the room. Vivian looked at Danny questioningly, Danny shrugged and held up his hand signalling for them
to hang on.
"It would be a shame to ruin that." There was silence for a few
seconds, then a short scream, full of pain, before the line went dead.
Danny and Martin stood there stunned for a few seconds, unable to
answer the questions that Vivian and Jack were shooting at them. Danny shook himself out of his stupor and hung up the phone and rewound the tape, and playing it to the team, answering the others questions.Martin stood in shock, trying to avoid thinking about Sam and what he may have done to her.