Ch.2

Disclaimer: For I shall not own.

Author's Note: I hope thou likes. Thanks for the reviews. They really help. Keep them coming.


(FBI office)

Sam, Martin, and Danny review the case.

"So, we have a twelve year old who has plenty of motives to walk off." Samantha says.

"Yes, but we got a ransom call." Martin puts in.

"Wait," Danny says. "It wasn't a ransom, and don't forget the eyewitness who saw Melissa get willingly in the car."

"Why would they call and have us meet them somewhere with no ransom money? Giving up already?" Samantha suggests. Martin thinks about it.

"Maybe the kidnapper wants to mislead us. Give them time to get away."

"We don't have anything though. We can't track anything; we have no suspects…the case is going cold." Samantha says frustrated.

"Not yet, we need to see why they want us to meet them. Surveillance is supposed to be heading over there now." Danny looks at his watch.

"Where is that place anyway? I haven't heard of it."

"That's because it doesn't exist." Jack said, walking over to the group, followed by Vivian. "It's a false address."

"So why did they bother calling?" Martin asks. "This seriously doesn't make any sense."

"I know it doesn't." The team takes a moment to think of possible solutions, but none come up. Sam walks out in frustration out to the balcony. Martin hovers around for a few seconds, before deciding to follow. He walks out to find her resting her chin on her fist, staring out into the New York City skyline.

"Hey," He leans his elbow next to hers, "You okay?"

"I can't figure it out," she begins.

"Hey," Martin stands strait seriously. "You can't expect to get everything. Things don't always make sense, no matter how clever you usually are." Sam looks up at him and he gives her a reassuring smile, placing a gentle hand on the small of her back.

Danny watches them through the window, jamming a pen in his leg, so he won't burst out laughing. As they walk back in, Danny goes into a small fit of coughs.

"Can I get you a glass of water, Danny?" Martin asks a little too politely. Danny holds up a hand.

"No, no, I'm fine."

"Okay here's what we're going to do," Jack instructs. "The father doesn't own a car, and they have no other living relatives. So, we're going to focus on people at her school, including teachers, coaches, counselors, anyone she has had contact with. Do checks on all of them. We're looking for someone with access to a black vehicle and has either motive for kidnapping or would be willing to help her run away. Any questions?"

Everyone shook their heads and headed off, but Jack called Samantha back.

"Uh, Sam? Can I have a quick word…in my office?" Samantha glanced quickly at Martin before nodding and heading there instead.

Jack followed her in and sat behind his desk. He looked at her for a moment before stating,

"You okay?"

"Yah," she said untruthfully. "Just uh, getting caught up in the case." Both Samantha and Jack found it rather uncomfortable to have a private conversation without another of the team ever since Jack went back to his wife. Truth was, neither of them new who they felt feelings for. For Jack, it was Samantha and his wife, and for Samantha, it was Jack and Martin.

"Um, you and uh…Martin…seem close."

"We've…had drinks a couple of times." She replied carefully. Jack nodded. "Look, Jack, this isn't a great time to talk about this. We've both moved on and I for one, want to find this girl, runaway or not." She moved to leave.

"Sam I…" but she was already out the door.


The team stayed working late into the night, running checks on most of the employees at Sampson Junior High. Finally…

"Hey guys, I got something." Danny called out. Sam, Martin, and Vivian moved over to Danny's desk. "Keith Little, 45, counselor. The school keeps records of just about everything that the students do, and it looks like Melissa saw him quite a lot, mostly in the past couple of weeks. I did a check, and he is registered to a black mustang."

"Great, so we just need to know who wanted to meet more often." Vivian said.

"Let's go talk to him." Samantha stated. No one moved. "What?"

"Uh, Sam, it's kind of late." Martin said gently. Samantha flushed.

"Right," She knew that they couldn't come knocking at any hour if there was still a possibility that he was innocent.

"We'll talk to him first thing in the morning," Vivian reassured her. "I'll go inform Jack. You should all go home."

"Thanks Viv," Martin told her. Everyone got ready to go, feeling better now that they had a possible lead.


Okay, that's it for now! Please review and I'll try to get the next chapter out soon. 