Hi and thanks to everyone who has been reading and reviewing. Some of you have been really faithful about reviewing and I really appreciate it. I've seen some new names among the reviews, thanks for reviewing and letting me know that you are out there. If you have been reading but haven't reviewed, please, please please review! I accept anonymous reivews.

Now, on with the story.

Chapter 9: Missing

Tony stepped off the elevator and walked directly to the limousine. He looked at the driver who was standing next to the passenger side rear door pretending to wipe smudges from its glossy finish. "I'll take the laptop." He said as he opened the door and handed it to Hutchins. "Put your hands against the side of the car." He told Tony then proceeded to pat him down looking for a weapon. When he was satisfied that Tony was unarmed, he cuffed his hands in front of him and opened the door. "Get in." He ordered Tony.

Tony got into the limousine and looked directly at Hutchins who sat with Tony's computer opened on his lap. "Very good, Tony. You didn't try to send any messages. You take direction well when you have some incentive."

"You've got me." Tony said. "It's me that you want. My daughter isn't involved in this. Tell your men to get away from her. You can kill me, just leave my family alone."

"You're not exactly in a position to tell me what to do, Tony. I'm not killing you just yet. I can use you for leverage. I'll call my men off in due time, assuming that you cooperate." Hutchins turned to the driver and said "Let's go."

It was almost 1:15 when Lindsay O'Neill, one of Tony's analysts stopped at Rita's desk. "Have you seen Tony?" Lindsay asked. "I was supposed to meet with him fifteen minutes ago and I can't find him."

"He left for lunch around noon." Rita answered. "Come to think about it, I haven't seen him since. I'll try and call him on his cell." She made a face as she listened to the phone. "That's odd. It went straight to voice mail. I've worked here four years and the only time his phone has gone straight to voice mail was when his wife was in labor."

Frank Healy, the other analyst rounded the corner. "Hey, Frank," Lindsay said, "have you seen Tony recently? Rita said he left for lunch over an hour ago and hasn't come back. He's not answering his cell either."

"His car is in the parking garage. I just ran down to get something out of my car ten minutes ago and his car is parked where it was when I came in this morning." Frank said.

"I'm sure he'll be back." Rita said. "He has a 2 o'clock appointment and I mentioned it to him as he left. He's been acting strangely recently."

"Tell me about it." Frank agreed. "He jumped all over my case yesterday over nothing. Did you see him this morning? He looked like he hadn't slept." Frank was a former CTU analyst who had started at CTU just a few months after Tony took over as director. He was a good analyst but was a bit of a free spirit who never quite got the hang of taking orders without questioning them first. While Tony was director that was alright; Tony never blindly followed anyone's lead either. He recognized Frank's talent and was secure enough in his position that he wasn't afraid of being questioned. The temporary director that was appointed after Tony clashed badly with Frank. Eventually Jeff DuBose was named director and although he was less threatened by Frank, he, too had difficulty putting up with him. When Tony was looking for an analyst about a year after coming back to LA, Frank was immediately interested. Tony liked him because he didn't need constant coaching and could think for himself. It seemed that Frank had finally found his niche.

"It's none of my business," Rita started, "but I think something is going on between he and his wife. He's been acting strangely for the last few weeks, and she was downright surly for a couple of months. She seems better now, though. Anyway, I'll call you when he gets in, Lindsay." Rita promised.

Tony's 2 o'clock appointment came and went without Tony ever showing up or calling. Rita apologized repeatedly to the client who sat patiently for almost a half hour before leaving with a disgusted look on his face.

At this point, Rita had become worried, as had Frank and Lindsay. Rita finally decided to call Michelle.

"Hello," Michelle answered.

"Mrs. Almeida, this is Rita Corbin."

"Oh, hi Rita. How are you?" Michelle asked.

"I'm fine Mrs. Almeida. I was just wondering if you had been in touch with your husband recently. He left for lunch a couple of hours ago and he hasn't come back. He missed a 2 o'clock appointment and that just isn't like him. I've tried to call him, but his phone switches right over to voice mail. His car is in the garage so wherever he went, he walked."

Michelle felt her heart begin to pound. She leaned against the wall for support. Her years with CTU told her that Tony had not left the office voluntarily. She knew that this mission had somehow blown up in his face. "Rita, did he leave the office alone or was he with someone?"

"No, Mrs. Almeida, he was alone."

If Tony walked out of the office alone, that meant that someone was using a threat to force him to comply. The only threat he would take seriously was one against her or the kids. Michelle recovered quickly. "You know, Rita, he really didn't feel well this morning. I wonder if he decided to stop at his doctor's office. That's within walking distance. I'll call over there and see if I can track him down." She kept her voice steady as adrenaline rushed through her system.

"Yeah, he didn't look well. That's probably what happened." Rita agreed. It was a simple enough explanation and she had no reason to doubt Michelle. "We were just a little worried. I'm sorry I had to bother you."

"No, I'm glad you did. I'll talk to you later." Michelle hung up and swallowed hard. She had to think. She had to keep her wits about her. She knew from experience that if Tony had been kidnapped as she thought he had that the likelihood of him making it out alive was slim. Right now she had to concentrate on protecting herself and the children. She took some deep breaths and got back some control. First she had to make sure the kids were safe and then she needed to talk to Hammond. She made herself concentrate on the kids first.

John was napping in his crib. Joe was outside playing with Nathan next door and Sophie was at school. She would get Joe in the house first. She ran to the back door and stepped onto the patio. "Hi, Judy," she yelled to her neighbor trying to sound calm. "Send Joe home please. I need him to come in for a while."

Joe said goodbye to his friend and ran to his mother. "Why do I have to come in? Nate and I were having fun. I was being good for Miss Judy."

Michelle rushed him into the house and closed the blind on the sliding glass door. "I know you were, Sweetie. I just have some things to do and I wanted you to be in the house when your brother wakes up. Go upstairs and play in your room and when you hear the baby, go in his room and keep him occupied." She took him in her arms and held him tightly. "Please, Sweetie. I love you. Just do this for Mommy, please." Her voice was wavering and she was shaking all over.

Joe struggled to get out of his mother's arms. "Ouch, Mom you're hurting me. I can't breathe." Michelle realized what she was doing and let go.

"Just go upstairs, Honey." She said trying to compose herself.

Next she needed to make sure that Sophie was safe. As she grabbed a portable phone and dialed, she ran up the steps to her bedroom. The phone rang as she opened Tony's closet door.

"Hello," said the voice on the other end.

"Father Marty, it's Michelle Almeida." She could no longer control her quivering voice and she closed the bedroom door so Joe, who was playing in the next room couldn't hear her crying.

"Michelle, what's wrong?" the priest responded.

"Father, I need your help."

"Michelle," he said in a calm voice. "I talked to Tony this morning, he said you two might want to talk to me."

"No, no Father, this is different. This is an emergency. I need you to go over to the school and make sure that no one but me tries to pick up Sophie, not even Tony. If someone tries to pick her up, you have to stall them. Tell them she's taking a test. Tell them whatever, but stall them and call me. Without trying to scare you, there are federal agents watching the school. If I have to, I can get in touch with them and they will handle the situation. Don't tell anyone that you have talked to me." She paused trying to get her breath. "Can you do that, Father?"

"Of course I can do that Michelle, but what is this all about? Are any other children in danger? If other children are in danger, I have to call the police, Michelle."

"I can't tell you any more, Father. I don't think they would do anything to hurt other children because it would attract too much attention. They only want Sophie and they would want to take her quietly."

"Are you coming now to pick her up?"

"No, I'll pick her up at the usual dismissal. I need to follow my usual routine. If I don't they'll realize that we've figured out what is going on and that will put Tony in more danger than he already is. I have to wait until dismissal to get her."

"I understand." Father Marty answered. "Does this have something to do with a case from when you two were with CTU?"

"Yes, it does, but I can't say anything more." Michelle couldn't tell him the truth. "Father, I have to make another call, please go over to the school as soon as possible."

"I'm on my way, Michelle. Call me again if you need me."

Michelle had composed herself somewhat. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and tried to remember what she was doing before she called Father Marty. The gun, she thought, I was getting Tony's gun.

She reached to the back of the top shelf and found Tony's 9mm safely out of the children's reach and unloaded. She slipped it into the back waistband of her pants and pulled her maternity shirt down over it. The ammunition was in the safe in the basement. She trotted down the stairs again dialing the phone. This time she was calling Hammond.

"CTU, Rosetti," said the receptionist.

"This is Michelle Almeida. I need to speak to Brad Hammond."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Hammond is in a meeting and can't be disturbed. Can I take a message?"

"This is an emergency!" Michelle hissed through gritted teeth. "Put him on the phone right now!"

"Hold, please," she answered.

"Mr. Hammond," the intercom interrupted the meeting between Hammond, DuBose and Baker. "I have Michelle Almeida on line two. She is insisting on talking to you. She said it's an emergency." The three men exchanged worried glances.

"I'll take the call, Gina. Thank you."

"Is Agent Baker there with you?" Gina asked.

"Yes, Gina, I'm here." Baker answered.

"Trey Donovan was trying to get in touch with you. He asked me to have you call him when you got a chance."

"I'll call him now. Thanks." Baker got up and walked into the hall to return the call. Donovan was probably calling to complain. He had spent the last few weeks watching Immaculate Heart of Mary School and made no secret that he thought that 'babysitting Almeida's kid' was a waste of time.

Hammond picked up line two. "This is Brad Hammond." He said with authority.

"They've got him, Brad." Michelle said angrily.

"What are you talking about, Michelle?"

"Tony. He's missing and I'm sure they've got him."

"Who is 'they'?"

"Brad, I know what's going on. Don't treat me like I'm stupid. Tony told me last night. His secretary just called to say no one can find him. He left his office around noon without telling anyone where he was going, his car is sitting where he left it this morning and he's not answering his cell."

Baker walked back into the conference room. "Brad," he said.

"Hold on, Michelle." Hammond covered the receiver with his hand.

"My men over at Tony's daughter's school said there is some suspicious activity near the school. There are a couple of Asian men casing the place. I told them to keep an eye on them but not to approach them unless they make any move toward the school."

"Good," Hammond said. "Call the guys watching Almeida's office. Ask them if they've seen him leave the building. Let the team at his house know that something is up. Tell them to move in as close as possible without being seen."

Baker walked out of the room again. "Michelle, sit tight for a few minutes while we sort this out. We're watching your daughter's school."

"Yeah, I know," Michelle interrupted.

"Are you and your other children in the house?"

"Yes, and I'm armed. I just loaded Tony's 9mm."

"Stay in the house, don't go anywhere. Baker's going to get reports from the teams at Tony's office and your house."

"I have to pick up Sophie and two other kids at 3:30 at school." Michelle told him.

"I'll get back to you before that. Call another parent and have the other kids picked up by someone else. I only want you to get your daughter and be ready to move to a safe house. So pack the necessities for you and your children. Don't talk to anyone, not even Tony's family. His safety depends on Yuen's people thinking we haven't discovered that he's gone yet." The two hung up and Hammond squeezed his eyes shut in order to think.

"DuBose, find out what is going on at the house where Yuen's men stored the arms."

"Right away." Jeff said as he picked up the phone.

"Baker," Hammond yelled. "Do you have anything from those teams yet?"

"The team outside Tony's office said they haven't seen him since he entered the garage this morning. They have the tags on every car that left the garage since Tony was last seen. I'll have Adam start checking them out with the MVA. The team at the house hasn't seen any increased activity but they are moving in closer."

"Call Michelle with that information, Baker. We better get a safe house ready, too. I don't think it's safe to leave her in that house with three kids. We can watch them better in one of our places."

"Done," Baker answered as he left the room.

DuBose entered the room as Baker exited. "The team watching Yuen's men said nothing has happened since last night. Nothing at all, Brad. Does that sound strange to you?"

"Maybe they're trying to lay low." Hammond speculated.

"Well they are lying real low. The guys said that the men unloaded the arms as soon as they got back to the house last evening. They had pizza delivered around 9 o'clock. Hutchins entered the house alone around 10pm and left at about 2:10am. Since that time no one has entered or exited, there hasn't even been any movement. It's almost 3pm. Even if they all got drunk last night and passed out they should be awake by now. I think we should take a closer look at the house."

"That's risky. They're obviously well armed and even if they don't take defensive action, it's going to blow our cover. They will know we're watching them."

"Oh, for God's sake, Brad. Our cover is blown if they have Tony!"

"Not necessarily. They may not realize that he's working for us. They may just plan to cover their tracks by getting rid of him, that way he can't come back and blackmail them or anything."

"I don't think we should take that chance. We don't have to storm the house. I just think we can get a better look at it. I can have one of the guys go up to the door and pretend to be a salesman or someone from a utility company. It just gets us a little closer to the house."

"Alright, go ahead, but be careful. We also need to set up roadblocks, watch the airports, bus terminals, train stations, any route out of LA. Circulate Tony's picture and Hutchins' picture in all of those places. See if anyone remembers seeing them. You better get the phone records of the incoming calls to Almeida's office. Maybe Hutchins got careless and called from a location we can identify."

"I'm on it." DuBose responded. "I'll get started, but I think you better hold a briefing for the senior staff in the next few minutes. We are going to need everyone working on this."

Hammond nodded. "Call Bob Warner and let him know what is going on. Put a couple of security agents on him as well. Also, call Chung Yee from South Korean intelligence. If Yuen thinks we're on to him, he may try to run. I want him followed at all times."

DuBose was jotting down notes and nodded his head silently in agreement. "Do you want Bob Warner in a safe house?"

"No, I think it is enough to put security on him. If Yuen wanted him, he would have already taken him." Hammond rubbed his forehead and heaved a soft sigh. "It's going to be a long night, Jeff."

"I was thinking the same thing." DuBose answered quietly.