James held the knife up to the light, seemingly admiring the red

blood that stained the knife, staring at it with a strange smile on his

face. Samantha looked at him warily, suddenly becoming more scared of him as she saw the smile and the strange look in his eyes. Blood flowed out of the long cut across her cheek, pouring down her face. She shut her eyes against the pain, trying to hold her tears in. Lisa watched from a corner of the room, a satisfied smile on her face.

There was another stunned silence after they heard the tape in full.

"She sounded so scared." said Vivian in shock. "I've never heard her like that. She's usually so strong and together."

"I have." said Martin

The rest of the team turned to look at him.

"It was yesterday. We went for a drink, and in the taxi she was

different from usual. She didn't sound scared exactly, insecure and sad maybe. Just not at all like the usual Sam." said Martin. "And now this happened. She's going to feel even more insecure."

"In what way?" asked Jack slightly confused. But from the looks on

Danny and Vivian's face it showed that they understood.

"She's going to feel responsible for letting herself be taken, she'll

feel insecure about her capabilities as an agent. Its a typical

reaction, wondering if they were the easiest to get too, not as strong as the others." said Danny.

"This will really mess her up won't it?" said Vivian

"We won't let it. We will all be there to comfort and support her."

said Martin "Not let her think those things."

"Well we can't just wait around here, we need to find out where they could be. We also need to come up with the money and try and get Mrs Atkins charges cleared. I think we'll need to get Van Doren." said Jack.

13 hours missing

Samantha shifted, trying to get comfortable on the cold hard

floor. Her gunshot wound had started playing up and was causing immense pain. She looked around and saw James and Lisa whispering together urgently in a corner, not paying any attention to her.Looking around Sam saw a small pocket-knife, that must have fallen out of James's pocket lying quite near her. She discreetly tried to move closer to it without drawing any attention to herself, before she could get very far, they stopped whispering and James came back towards her, while Lisa went upstairs out of the basement.

"Lisa has gone out for a bit. Run some errands, get the money. See how much your agent friends really want you back. They aren't very good are they? Personally I thought they would have found us by now. Hang on a second."

James turned round and in those few seconds Samantha inched

sideways and grabbed the pocket-knife hiding it in her bound hands.

James turned back round brandishing the knife. "Well lets have some fun." he said with a manic smile and a subtle glint in his eyes that unnerved Samantha. Her eyes widened, and for one of the few times in her life she felt pure terror, and she prayed that she would be found soon.

"So Jack. What do you think the best plan of action is?" asked Paula

Van Doren.

"I think we should do what we can on gathering the money and clearing charges but try and find Samantha before."

"How much did they want?"

"They asked for how much she was worth to us."

Paula raised her eyebrows. "So they are expecting quite a bit I

suppose."

Jack nodded. "The rest of the team are still trying to locate them. We couldn't hear anything useful in the background when they spoke to us, that may help to find them."

"Ok. You keep looking. I'll talk to the boss about the money

situation." said Paula and left the office.

Jack walked out to where the team was. "Anything?" he asked.

They shook their heads sadly.

Martin stood at the white board, looking at the picture of

Samantha. She looked so happy. He felt tears building up in his eyes thinking the worst. He couldn't imagine life without her. He had always had feeling for her, he couldn't bear it if he never had the chance to tell her that. More than anything, he kept feeling guilty. If only he had done more. 2 extra minutes to make sure she was in. 2 minutes, and none of this would ever be happening.

He glanced over at Danny, who had his head down over a pile of paperwork, wondering what this was doing to him. Danny and Sam were like brother and sister. This must be killing him. He walked over to

Danny, and clasped his shoulder. "Hey. How you doing?"

Danny looked up, his eyes red, and his face pale. "I'm holding up. The sooner we find her the better. Yourself?"

"You know. Holding up." he said with a small smile.

"So when she comes back you going to tell her about your little crush?" asked Danny slyly.

"I don't know. Maybe." Martin sighed. "She doesn't feel the same way though."

"You said yourself that you felt a 'vibe' when you were out. At least

give it a go."

"Maybe." said Martin.

"Hey! Hey guys!" called Vivian excitedly waving a piece of paper. "Lisa Atkins rented a cabin several times, out of the city. No one has booked it at the moment but that wouldn't stop her taking Sam there if its unoccupied."

"Right lets go. Danny you're with me. Viv, Martin inform the police and tell them we need some back up. Lets move."

The team rushed out the building quickly, each feeling happier knowing that they were closer to bringing Sam back.

None of them noticed a shadowy figure watching them from a small alley way. The figure pulled out a cell phone. "James, its me." said Lisa. "Think they may have figured out where you are. I'm not positive but we don't want to risk it. Bring her to 1888 Oakwood. I'll meet you there. James hurry!" She put the phone away and hurried back to where the car was parked.

13.5 hours missing

Samantha lay on the floor, bleeding from several more cuts that James had inflicted on her. The worst, a stab through her shoulder that was pouring blood making her feel light-headed.

"Come on princess, up you get." said James grabbing Samantha and pulling her to her feet, she flinched in pain and fear, remembering his earlier actions. "We've gotta move, apparently they have found us."

"So where are you taking me?" whispered Sam.

"You'll find out soon."

"Why go through all of this? What else to you want?" asked Sam trying to stall for time.

"Well we keep you, and that makes sure that they come through with their side of the deal. The more pain you suffer, the more revenge we get on Ned's death."

"But wh-"

"Enough questions. Come on." He said dragging her up the stairs.

They got to by the front door, when Samantha let out a cry of pain, and fell on the floor, James still holding her upper arm.

"Come on! Get up."

"I can't." said Sam through the pain. "My leg."

"What's wrong with it? Can you stand?" asked James roughly.

"I got shot, still hurts."

"Can you stand?" repeated James.

Samantha nodded. James knelt down to grab her shoulders and pull her up, while he did this Sam kicked him in the back of the leg

viciously, causing him to stumble. She got up as quickly as she could, and limped towards the door. Opening the pocket knife and holding it in her hands. Enraged, James got back up and grabbed her hands behind her back. He let out a surprised cry when the knife in her hands scraped his. Snatching the knife away from her and even more angry than before

he backhanded her round the face leaving her to fall to the floor.

Not taking any more chances he picked her up and ran to his car. Throwing Sam in the passenger side, he got in and drove away as fast as he could. Holding the wheel with one hand, he reached over to check Sam's pulse as she had passed out again, it was faint but quite regular. He sped down the roads heading for Oakwood.

13.5 hours missing

About 20 minutes later the team arrived at the cabin, followed by the police. The cars drove up quietly, and everyone got out, guns at the ready. Jack signalled for half to go round the back and half to the front door. Jack lead the way to the front door, to his surprise he found the door slightly open.

Pushing it open he cautiously walked inside yelling "FBI, we know you're here. Come out with your hands up!" Hearing no answer, he said

"Everyone split up, look around. Yell if you find anything."

Martin stood off to the side looking worried. Vivian came up to him,

"Even if she's not here we will find her." Smiling in comfort.

"Agent Malone?" came the voice of one of the police, Josh Reynolds. "I think we have something." Jack and the team ran over and looked at what he was pointing at, there was some blood smeared on the floor from when

Samantha fell. "Ok, have the lab run some tests, see if we can find out who's it is."

Another yell came from in the basement, where more blood was

found. Everyone looked concerned about the amount of blood that there was. "Jeez" whispered Danny looking shocked.

"Looks like they left here pretty fast, we found some tire tracks in

the front." said another police man who can come down from outside.

"Must have raced out of here."

"They knew we were coming." said Jack angrily. "That's why they cleared out so fast. How did they know?"

But no one had an answer.