Author's Note: Martin is my favourite character in Without A Trace, so here we go; another Martin-centric fic :-)
This has nothing to do with Alone, my other WAT fic. This one will be a multi-part, and follows the process of an investigation.
CHAPTER 1
Martin rested his head against the desk. He was exhausted. The previous night he had stayed late at the offices finishing paperwork for their previous case – a runaway teenager – before heading home at about 8 pm. His mother had promptly rung at 9:30 just as he was about to go to bed, and kept him on the phone for an hour asking about his health and his job. Then, after he managed to convince her that he was fine, and had no health worries, his sister had rung from Australia, where she was on holiday, and spent two hours telling him what a wonderful holiday she was having before Martin managed to get a word in edgeways to tell her that it was after midnight and he'd appreciate being able to go to bed. Four hours after that, there had been a car accident in the street outside his apartment, and he'd gone down to help out. By the time the ambulance had left and the police had finished asking questions, it had been 7:30am. Martin had decided that it really wasn't worth going back to sleep, and instead downed a few cups of coffee and gone to work.
The upshot – it was 2pm and all Martin Fitzgerald wanted to do was go to sleep. He had somehow managed to struggle through the morning without yawning more than once every five minutes, but now he was a wreck, and had drunk more coffee than Danny believed could be healthy.
"All right, people," Jack said, coming out of his office. "We've got a case."
The team assembled around the central table, Martin forcing himself to wake up and listen.
"The man is Ricky John Hunter, 26 year old ex-con. He did five years for computer crimes before – Martin? You okay?" he asked, breaking off as Martin had a coughing fit, choking on the coffee.
"Yeah … did – did you say Ricky Hunter?"
"Yes …" Jack narrowed his eyes, looking curiously at Martin. "Why? You know him?"
"Used to, yeah." He coughed again, both to rid his lungs of the last of the coffee, and gain himself some time to get his thoughts straight. His exhaustion disappeared at this revelation. "What's happened to him?" He asked, in a non-too-subtle attempt to focus attention away from him.
"He was let out for good behaviour two months ago. He was staying with his girlfriend Alison Ward in her apartment. She went out shopping this morning, and when she came back he was gone. There were signs of a struggle throughout the apartment." He turned to Martin, who had paled slightly. "Martin – anything you can add about Hunter?"
"It's been five and a half years, Jack. I broke off ties when he got arrested … and he wasn't particulary keen to maintain them either." He cleared his throat. "He believes that I set him up."
"Did you?" Danny asked.
"No. Honest. I didn't even know what he was doing. First I knew of it was when I was told to check out his computer and I recognised some of the stuff on there. Of course, he didn't believe me, and we parted on bad terms."
"What about before that?" Sam asked. "Where did you meet him?"
"In a computer class when I was 17. We started talking, and found we shared an interest in computers … we became friends. He went to university and then into the I.T. industry, and I went into the white-collar unit of the FBI. He told me that he was working with another friend's company and they were working on software upgrades and patches for Microsoft. I took it at face value … believe me, I had a hard time explaining that to the investigators later. They thought for a while that I was the 'man on the inside', and that I was a part of it."
"A part of what?" Vivian asked.
"Remember the 'Sun' virus six years ago?" he replied. Danny nodded. "That was Ricky," Martin said simply.
"You're kidding!" Danny exclaimed. "You knew that guy?"
"Thought I did," Martin said grimly.
"How did you miss that?" Danny asked incredulously.
"Believe me – I've been asking myself the same question for years." Martin sighed. "I guess you just don't associate your friends with a killer virus like that. I had no reason to be suspicious of him – he never said anything that made me doubt him."
"How did they catch him?"
Martin looked back at Jack. "His partner gave himself up and turned on Ricky in exchange for immunity. Ricky got 12 years … he must have got out for good behaviour, right?"
Jack nodded. "Yeah."
"So where's the partner?" Sam asked.
"No idea." Martin shrugged. "Last I knew, he'd taken off with Ricky's old girlfriend Sally and headed out of the country. That was four years ago. His name is Styles, by the way. Craig Styles."
"Did you visit Ricky in jail?" Vivian asked.
Martin sighed inwardly. This is beginning to feel like an interrogation. "No. Like I said, I wasn't exactly his favourite guy."
Jack noted this, noticing that Martin had talked only from Ricky's perspective … maybe Martin didn't see the friendship as over. "What about since he came out?"
"No." Martin's flat voice indicated that this was not a topic for in-depth discussion.
Jack ignored it. "Why not?"
Martin shot him a briefly angry look, before saying simply, "Guess I didn't want to remember. Guess he didn't either." He looked at Jack again. "You going to take me off the case?"
"Give me a reason and I will." Jack turned away. Martin understood what he meant – first bit of improper behaviour and you're gone.
"Danny, Viv and Sam – I want you to check out his friends and relatives. Start with the girlfriend. Martin – you're with me. Let's go." Jack led the team out of the office.
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Author's note: Please read and review!
NB – I don't know whether Martin has a sister or not, or whether he was once friends with someone who writes viruses. To the best of my knowledge there has never been a 'Sun' virus. I made it up for the story. And I don't know anything about the American legal system either.
