FBI Headquarters
23 hours missing
Martin was at his desk watching the news report on Alec Parker, the news hounds had seized upon his wife's suicide making it the top the news story of the day. Danny and Vivian were at the conference table helping to coordinate the divers' efforts. Sam was on the phone.
"Right . . ok . . thanks." Sam stood up and walked over to Danny and Vivian. "We've got movement on Tom Douglas's credit card. He just bought an airline ticket at JFK International. He's heading to the Cayman Islands." Danny smiled and exchanged a glance with Vivian; some people were just so stupid.
JFK International Airport, Departures Terminal
23.5 hours missing
Martin walked into the terminal, dressed in casual clothes, a small bag flung casually over his shoulder. He looked around for a moment as if to get his bearings before heading towards the newspaper rack. Danny entered right behind him dressed in overalls pushing a cleaner's cart. He headed in the opposite direction to Martin, over to where the coffee bar was. Sam walked in behind him, a briefcase in one hand, looking every inch the career woman. She walked over to the seating area in the middle of the room, taking care not to look too interested in her surroundings she looked for Douglas. Vivian came out of the door by the departures desk, where the clerks took the tickets. Half of Douglas's flight had boarded already. The supervisor had assured her that he hadn't boarded yet, so it was just a matter of waiting for him to move. Over the next ten minutes the rest of Douglas's flight boarded. Sam, Martin and Danny all searched the place for him with their eyes. He didn't appear to be there. Last call was made, Douglas still hadn't shown up and the plane was about to leave.
"I'll check the restroom," Martin volunteered, speaking into the concealed microphone in his cuff, pretending to scratch his nose. He then walked across the room to the restroom, pausing only to throw his paper in the bin. After a moment he emerged. "He's not there."
"He's not here either," Danny reported, throwing a table's contents into his rubbish sack.
"He's not over here, are you sure he didn't get on the flight before we arrived?" Sam checked. Vivian leant forward and asked the clerk to check again.
"The clerk's sure," Vivian told them dejectedly, Danny thought for a moment.
"She's sure that no-one using his passport has checked in. What if he's not as stupid as we think? What if he bought the ticket but then used a different passport?" Danny speculated. Vivian leant forward again, this time showing the clerk a photo of Tom Douglas.
"You're right, he's on the damn plane," Vivian yelled, running through the door that led to the plane. Danny, Martin and Sam ran over and through the door after her, all pretence forgotten now. Just as they rounded the corner they could see the airplane stewardess pulling the door closed.
"Stop FBI!" Danny yelled, sprinting past Vivian reaching into his pocket for his ID. The stewardess, surprised, stopped pulling the door closed, allowing Danny to get there. Once there he flashed his ID. "Special Agent Taylor, where's this man sitting?" Vivian produced the picture, the stewardess frowned and stepped back into the plane, she looked along the aisle.
"Seat 15C, first class," she replied, Danny nodded his thanks before pushing past her. Vivian followed. Sam and Martin walked past her the other side to get to the other aisle. They wanted to cut off his other escape route. "Wait is he a terrorist or something?" the stewardess asked, none of the FBI agents stopped to reply because they didn't hear her. More than a little worried the stewardess picked up the intercom radio, the captain would need to know about this. Danny pushed his way down the aisle, leaving a wake of irate passengers behind him. Martin not having Danny's confidence in pushing past people, proceeded at a slower rate. Even so pretty soon Martin reached seat 15C, Tom Douglas was standing up putting his bag in the overhead bin.
"Tom Douglas," Martin called "FBI." Tom Douglas froze in horror for a moment before starting to run, he wouldn't have got very far if his bag hadn't fallen out of the overhead bin onto Martin's head. Unfortunately for Martin, the bag was packed full of books and computer equipment, which knocked him out blocking the aisle.
"Stop," Sam yelled, more to alert Danny and Vivian than for any effect on Tom Douglas, struggling to get past Martin. Sam added as an afterthought, "Officer down." Danny hearing the ominous cry instinctively pulled his gun and started pushing past people even more forcefully than before. He could see ahead of him that Tom Douglas was going to get to the front of the plane ahead of him, from there he could reach the cockpit, if he was armed that would be a disaster. Passengers all around Danny screamed. Before Vivian could calm them down with her badge and the shout of FBI, a passenger stepped out of his seat and disarmed Danny with a very slick manoeuvre, which left Danny gasping for breath on the aisle floor.
"FBI," Vivian yelled stepping over Danny and pushing past the wannabe hero, who was left staring confused at Danny struggling to get up. Tom Douglas by now had reached the front of the plane, he looked back and saw Sam and Vivian both pressing towards him. Despairing he tried to think of a plan, anything that would get him out of this mess. Pushing his hands in his pockets he searched for a weapon, or something that would help him. His hand grasped his contact lenses pot, suddenly the idea came to him.
"Stay back I've got a bomb." Pulling his hand out of his pocket he withdrew the pot, keeping his hand tightly clenched around it and his finger poised above the top. Sam and Vivian's response was immediate. They drew the guns and pointed them at Tom Douglas. Sam glanced at Vivian waiting for her to take the lead, she didn't move. Sam started thinking furiously, she didn't have a clue what to do but she knew what Jack would do.
"You've got a bomb huh. You gonna blow this place up? Go on then, press the button," Sam goaded him. Tom Douglas looked nervously and uncertainly between Vivian and Sam.
"I will do it you know," Tom Douglas stammered. Sam walked forward keeping her gun trained on him.
"Go on then, press the button, blow us all up," Sam shouted, unnerving Tom Douglas even more. Suddenly she darted forward knocking the pot out of his hand. It clattered harmlessly to the floor, exposing it for what it really was. "Hands over your head," Sam ordered reaching for her cuffs.