Hiding in the Light

Chapter One

Samantha Spade looked at herself in the mirror. She had brushed her teeth half a dozen times to get the vomit taste out of her mouth. Martin wasn't awake yet, so he probably didn't even know she had thrown up. It was about five a.m., which was early for her. She didn't expect Martin to be awake for another half hour or so, so Sam decided to take a shower. About twenty minutes later she emerged out of the steaming chamber and wiped the fogged up mirror clean. Samantha stared back at her face. "Pregnant" was the first word that came to her head.

Several miles away, a teenage girl walks home in the rain crying. Her cloths were ripped and bloody from the car accident she barley managed to walk away from. Her stupid boyfriend had thought he could drive home drunk. The girl was still far away from home, it would take at least an hour to get there. The girl turned around to see a semi-truck emerging from the clouds, the headlight shined into her blue eyes, and the girl vanished into the fog.

Twenty-seven Hours Missing

"Her name is Aurora Mackenzie. She's sixteen years old. Went to a party two nights ago and never came home the next morning. She also didn't make it to a study group, which is apparently odd for her." Jack announced to the team.

"Who the hell names their child 'Aurora'?" Danny was amused by his own joke. Samantha rolled her eyes at him; she had been feeling a little better as the day went on. She had called her doctor and would go to an appointment in a few hours. Jack decided to split up the team like every other day. "Sam and Danny, go talk to host of the party. Find out who her friends were. Martin, check with hospitals and morgues for any Jane Does. And Viv, you're coming with me to talk to the parents."

"Parent," Vivian said, "Her mother died when she was four. She lives with her dad. Who, get this, is James Mackenzie. A bit shot lawyer." Jack nodded at the information as he and Vivian grabbed their coats. Martin sighed at his duty, he hated doing desk work. He glanced back at Sam and noticed she looked ill. At his desk, Danny looked for the paper that held the address of the party host's house. "Okay, Sam. Let's go meet Peter Geller."

Twenty-Nine Hours Missing

"What time did you expect your daughter to be home, Mr. Mackenzie?" Jack asked the nervous father. "Her curfew is one a.m. I went to bed around ten. She's usually really good at making it home on time. Then when I got up around seven she wasn't home. I figured she stayed at a friends' house. I gave her the benefit of the doubt. When I got home that night around eight, she still wasn't home. I called her friends, but they didn't know where she was." James Mackenzie sat down on his couch and started silently sobbing. He suddenly looked weak, unlike the big shot lawyer he was.

"Mr. Mackenzie.," Vivian stood next to Jack, "would Aurora run away for any reason? Problems at school? Home?"

"No. Rory isn't a trouble maker. She has good friends, good grades. We aren't very close, but we don't hate each other. I mean, we get along alright. God, I don't know what to think anymore."

"Mr. Mackenzie…" Jack started

"Please, call me James."

"Okay, James, you may get a ransom call, if she was kidnapped that is, and you're going to need to tell us. Considering you're a lawyer, and lawyers have enemy, she could have been kidnapped by someone to get to you."

"Of course, anything."

Jack and Vivian shared a glance, this guy seemed suspicious.

Chapter two

Thirty hours missing

"Peter Geller?" Danny asked the young man who opened the door.

"Yea. What do you want?"

"My name is Agent Taylor, this is Agent Spade. We're FBI."

"What's this about?" The kid was still tired, or already drunk.

"Do you know Aurora Mackenzie?" Sam asked, already getting impatient with the kid.

"Yea, I know Rory. She's dating Dave."

"Who is Dave?" Danny spoke slowly.

"Dave is my brother. He took her home around three a.m. after the party. Or during the party, I guess."

"Peter, where is your brother?" Samantha was really irritated now. Her doctors' appointment was in a couple of hours and she didn't want to miss it because of some stupid teenager.

"Hospital, he was in a car accident yesterday. But, uh, Rory wasn't with him. He doesn't know what happened to her."

"Which hospital?" Danny continued to speak slowly.

"Umm…St. Vincent's. I don't know what ward he's in. But his name is David Geller. With an 'er' at the end."

"Yea, Pete. We got that." Danny was amused at this kids' stupidity.

Thirty-Two Hours missing

Jack and Martin stood around the hospital bed. David Geller lay have conscious and wrapped in bandages. The left side and front of his body was banged up badly. He was clearly the driver.

"Dave, what can you tell us about Aurora Mackenzie?" Martin asked

"She's my girlfriend."

"David, we know that. What can you tell us about the accident?" Jack asked a little less nicely than Martin.

"I was driving my car; I guess I was a little drunk. Anyway, another car was coming toward us and I swerved a little bit. Then everything when black; I think I hit a tree or something. The medics said I was the only one in the car."

Martin and Jack turned away from Dave. "She's either dead or in critical condition. Either way we need to find her." Jack said to Martin, but he only half listened to Jack. He was mostly thinking about Samantha, who was at the doctor.

"Mrs. Spade? We have your test results." The nurse said to anxious Samantha.

"It's Miss. I'm not married."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Would you like to know the test results now?"

"Yes, please." Samantha said softly as she fiddled with a tissue.

"It's positive. You are definitely pregnant." Part of her was happy, but the other part was upset.

"If that's good news, you will want to schedule an appointment in the next couple of weeks. But if that's bad news, you may want to go through your options. You're about six weeks along, so you have about a month to decide what you want to do."

"Okay. Can I go now?" Samantha just wanted to go to work to her mind off of this; she wanted to get back to the case.

"Of course." The nurse replied as Samantha rushed out of the office. She had to talk to Martin.

Chapter three

Thirty-five hours missing

The team was sitting at the conference desk, they were going nowhere fast. Jack and Danny were ready to go back to the Mackenzie house when Jack's cell phone rang.

"Malone. Okay. How much? Come down to the office." Everyone except Samantha looked up at Jack; she was still lost in her own thoughts. Martin noticed this and made a mental note to talk to her later. "James Mackenzie just got a ransom call. He's coming down to tell us about it."

Thirty-Six hours missing

"He wants one hundred thousand dollars delivered at nine p.m. tonight in black bags."

"Where?" Jack still didn't trust Mr. Mackenzie.

"Next to the dumpster in Forest Park. It's the park a couple miles from our house. I have the money, but I don't think I can get it ready in time."

"Mr. Mackenzie, we will take care of it. We have connections with a couple banks." Vivian said calmly.

"Four hours," Jack said, "I guess we can take a break."

Thirty-Nine Hours missing

Samantha sat in the break room looking over Aurora's credit card receipts and cell phone bills from the past month. The only thing that Samantha found somewhat important was a twenty second call to a Patrick Jennings and a 300 dress purchase. She could have done the checking at her desk, but the break room was empty and she needed to think. She wrote Patrick Jennings' name and phone number on a note pad and continued to sit quietly. She didn't know how to tell anyone about anything. The door opened and the familiar face of Danny Taylor stood in the doorway. "I thought I'd find you here." He said as he walked toward the vending machine. Samantha wiped her watery eyes, the last thing she needed was for someone to see her cry. Danny sat down at the table across from her. "Are you okay? You've been quiet." Samantha knew she could trust Danny; he was one of her best friends. "I went to the doctor today," Samantha trailed off, "could you not tell Martin? I need to tell him first."

"Tell him what? Are you sick or something."

"Or something."

"You can tell me. I won't tell him anything." Danny was suddenly very curious and also scared for Samantha. His first thought was that she had some kind of terminal illness, since she had some kind of sadness in her voice. But it was a different type of sadness.

"I'm…pregnant." Samantha avoided eye contact with her friend.

"Whoa. And Martin is the father?" Danny already knew the answer, but he wanted to be sure.

"Yes, of course. I don't know how to tell him." Samantha started to cry and Danny walked over to where she was sitting and put a hand on her shoulder. "It's going to be okay." Samantha stood up and hugged him as she cried. She was relieved she told someone. Danny's phone rang. "Taylor." Danny said into the phone while Samantha wiped her eyes with the tissue, "Yea. We'll be right up." Danny relayed the message to Samantha. "That was Jack. They're ready for the ransom drop-off."

Forty Hours Missing

This ransom drop-off seemed not different from any other: dark area, little people, and dumpsters seemed to be a popular place to drop of the money. Martin and Vivian sat on benches, Martin with a news paper and Vivian with a book, Jack was hiding near a tree with a clear visual of the drop off point. Danny and Sam sat in a car in the parking lot. Neither one of them spoke as they watched James Mackenzie drop off the ransom in the appropriate manner. James left the dumpster and drove away in his car. Five and then ten minutes past and nothing happened. "This guy is either an amateur, dead, or has a lot of patience." Danny said to Sam. Samantha replied, "Or late. Kidnappers aren't always the most punctual." A figure emerged twenty minutes after the original drop-off. "Hold your positions; wait until he grabs the bag." Jack instructed the other agents. The man opened the dumpster, looked around and grabbed the bag. "Okay, go!" Jack and the others ran toward the dumpster. "Sam, stay back. You wouldn't want to get hurt." Danny instructed his friend. And Samantha held back, fearing for the life of her unborn child. "FBI! Don't move!" Jack yelled as the man turned away, only to be blocked by Vivian and Martin. The man held up a gun and Samantha froze, she hoped to God Martin wouldn't be shot. Danny managed to intervene before it was too late and tackled the suspect to the ground.

"Where is the girl?" Danny asked as he handcuffed the man.

"I don't know."

"What do you mean 'you don't know'?" Danny was irritated at this guy

"I was hired to pick up the money. I didn't take her, I swear!"

Jack and Danny led the suspect to Jack's car, "Martin and Sam, go talk to the James Mackenzie. Viv, come with Danny and I to see what we can get out of this bozo." Vivian went to her car and Martin walked toward Samantha, who was leaning against a tree and holding her stomach. "Sam, are you okay?" Martin was genuinely worried about Samantha, something was wrong with her. "Yea, I'm fine. Let's go."

Chapter Four

Forty-One hours missing

"Who hired you?" Jack Malone asked the man who couldn't be older than twenty.

"Some guy. He said his name was Patrick. I don't know his last name."

Danny remembered what Samantha had told him about the twenty second call

"Patrick Jennings?"

"Could be, but I don't know."

"Was there an arrangement?" Jack asked

"He told me to go to Forest Park around nine and pick up the black bags near a dumpster. He said he'd five me five thousand dollars for it. It seemed easy enough."

"Did you know it was ransom money that you were picking up?" Jack questioned

"He didn't say anything, but I assumed it was."

"Where were you supposed to take the money?" Danny asked

"To my house, he said he would pick it up."

Danny and Jack turned towards each other, "Let's go there, and see if he showed up. I'll have Vivian search for a Patrick Jennings and see if umm…" Jack gestured toward the man.

"Oh. Paul." The man responded

"…see if Paul recognizes him."

"Sounds good, let's good." Danny said as they headed toward the door.

Forty-Two Hours missing

"Okay, thanks Danny." Martin hung up his cell phone and continued walking with Samantha toward the suburban house. "Danny said that a guy named Patrick hired the guy to pick up the money."

"Aurora made a twenty second call to a Patrick Jennings the day before she disappeared," Samantha sighed, "None of this makes any sense." Martin knocked on the door and turned toward Sam, "Maybe the helpful father will know something." He had a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"Doubt it. This man is either oblivious or in denial to this."

"Or involved."

"Maybe." The door opened "Did you get him? Did you find her?"

"Mr. Mackenzie, may we come in?" Martin asked kindly.

"Of course." The couple stepped into the nicely furnished house. Once inside, Samantha broke the news, "Mr. Mackenzie, we don't think the man who picked up the money actually took your daughter. Do you know a Patrick Jennings?"

"What does Patrick have to do with his?" Samantha and Martin glanced at each other and Martin took over talking.

"We are not sure. But your daughter called him the day before she disappeared and the man who picked up the money said he was hired by a man named Patrick."

"I don't believe it. Patrick couldn't be involved in this."

"Mr. Mackenzie. Who is Patrick?" Samantha was never a very patient person, but she was at her last straw.

"He's my business partner, and close friend. He wouldn't hurt a fly."

"But would be kidnap one?" Martin asked a question that didn't even make sense to him.

"I don't think so. At least I didn't think so."

"Have you spoken to him since Aurora's disappearance?"

"No. He wasn't at work the day of the accident. But I didn't think anything of it."

"Would Patrick need the money for anything?" Martin asked

"I'm not sure." This case was one dead end after the other.

Chapter Five

Fifty-one Hours Missing

"Morning, Viv." Danny said as he walked into the office, Vivian Johnson was already at work.

"Morning, Danny."

"Where is everyone?"

"Martin and Jack went to the scene of the car accident; Samantha and Paul are looking over pictures of 'Patrick Jennings' and you and I are going to Patrick and James' office."

"Great."

Fifty-Three Hours Missing

Jack and Martin searched the area of the car accident that occurred over two days ago, maybe they would find tire prints or shoe prints that would hint at foul play.

"Anything at the ransom drop off last night?" Martin asked as he carefully searched for anything out of place.

"Nope. After seven hours we called it a day. Patrick, or whoever may have been watching the original drop off and knew he wouldn't get the money. Our attention was on the money, so we must have not noticed him."

"Seven hours? Did you get any sleep?"

"Not really, but Danny and I bought out a local Starbucks."

"Of course," Martin smiled, "Hey, I think I got something." Jack hurried over to Martin.

"Footprints?"

"Yea, right by were the car was, she was in the passenger seat and got out. These are her prints."

"Good work, I guess now it's time to walk."

Fifty-four Hours Missing

"What kind of person is Patrick Jennings?" Danny asked a timid secretary.

"I thought this was about Aurora Mackenzie disappearing."

"It is. But we think Mr. Jennings may be involved."

"Oh. Patrick was a nice guy, but had a bit of a temper."

"Did he get along with James and Aurora?" Vivian asked

"Yes. He admired James and has known Aurora since she was a baby."

"Thank you." Danny replied nicely as he and Vivian walked into Patrick's office.

"He seems like a neat freak. No pictures of a wife or kids, so we can assume he's single. Maybe he became obsessed with Aurora and wanted her for her own." Danny suggested to his colleague.

"That may be why he took her. But that doesn't explain why she called him the day before he took her."

"Maybe he was stalking her and she told him to butt off."

"Maybe." Vivian replied and felt that the case was going cold.

Fifty-five Hours Missing

"Is this the guy?" Samantha asked Paul while showing him a picture of the Patrick Jennings that James Mackenzie worked with.

"Yes! That's him."

"What exactly did he say to you?" Samantha wanted to check his story twice to see if anything had changed.

"He told me he'd give me 5,000 dollars if I picked up the bags. And he gave me a gun. And then he told me to take it to my house and he'd pick it up there."

"What was the gun for?"

"He told me to use it if I needed to. And I almost did."

"You almost shot a federal agent." Samantha said while she thought 'the father of my baby.'

"But I didn't." Samantha rolled her eyes at his response. "Okay, you can go now. We'll call you back in if we need anything else."

"Okay. Bye."

Fifty-Seven Hours Missing

Jack and Martin had been following foot prints for the last four hours, and they were getting nowhere.

"Maybe this is a dead end." Martin contemplated

"Hold it. Look over here." Jack ignored Martin's thoughts and Martin walked over toward his boss. "The foot prints are smudged as though they turned around and some bigger prints over lap them. And over there are tire tracks."

"Any sign of a struggle?"

"There doesn't seem to be. Aurora knew Patrick right? Here's a scenario: She's walking home, or where ever, badly injured from the car accident and her dad's friend pulls over to offer her a ride. She gets in, but then he ends up kidnapping her."

"That works, but that still doesn't explain the phone call." Martin said to Jack as they got back in the car and headed back toward the office.

Chapter Six

Fifty-Nine Hours Missing

Once again, everyone sat around the conference table trying to get a profile on Patrick Jennings.

"I spoke to one of her friends on the phone," Samantha added to what they already knew, "the friends' name was Lindsey Browning, and she said that Aurora seemed scared."

"Scared how?" Jack asked

"I'm not sure exactly. Lindsey said that Aurora was always looking over her shoulder and never wanted to be alone. And it seems this started happening right before the mysterious phone call."

"If Patrick Jennings was stalking her, why didn't she say something to someone?" Vivian told the group.

"Maybe she was scared." Martin added.

"Locals are scouting Jennings' house. They'll call if he shows up." Jack's phone ran subsequently, "Speak of the Devil," Jack flipped up his phone, "Malone. Yea. We're on it." Jack hung up his phone and turned toward the table, "Samantha, Viv, Danny, you're coming with me. Martin, hang around here incase something comes up." Martin nodded and headed over to his desk. Samantha stood up but felt nauseous and sat back down. Danny managed to notice this.

"Jack?" Danny walked toward his boss

"What?"

"Maybe we don't need four agents there. Sam could stay here, too."

"Yea, okay." Jack agreed and continued to walk out of the bullpen. Samantha looked up at Danny and had a thankful look on her face.

Sixty Hours Missing

Samantha shifted awkwardly in her chair. She looked though a folder of recent cases Jennings' worked on, but she only pretended to read it. She looked over at Martin, who walked over to the whiteboard and studied it. Sam put a hand on her stomach and walked toward him.

"Hey. Find anything on those cases?"

"Nothing really out of the ordinary. Except he seems to have been losing clients over the past couple years," Samantha leaned toward Martin, "can we talk?"

Martin seemed surprised, "Sure. What do you want to talk about."

"Not here," Samantha glanced around at all the people, "we can go to the balcony."

"Okay." Martin and Samantha grabbed their coats and cell phones and walked outside.

Once outside, Samantha glanced toward the building to see if anyone was watching them, no one was. "I umm…" Samantha was shaking, "I went to the doctor yesterday."

"I know. Is everything okay? Are you sick?"

"Not exactly," Samantha took a deep breath, "I'm pregnant."

Martin was taken off guard. "Okay."

"I'm about six weeks."