Area of Queens.
2 hours missing

Danny looked at the burnt twisted remains of what two hours ago had been a new and expensive SUV. It had been reported stolen last night in Philadelphia, been used as the getaway car in Central Park two hours ago and had been found torched and abandoned twenty minutes ago in this alley, right about the same time that witness told them the licence plate number.

"You think anybody's in there?" Martin asked hesitantly, the fire investigators and the SOC team had just arrived. They were to wait here until they'd completed their preliminary inspection.

"I hope not," Danny replied, he knew why Martin had asked, he thought he could smell it too, the scent of charred flesh. They were probably just imagining it, they'd just finished a case where the man they were looking for was found a burnt corpse.

"Why here?" Martin asked suddenly, "Why dump the car here. We're in the middle of a built up neighbourhood, why not wait until they're out of the city to ditch the car?"

"I don't know, perhaps they figured someone would have seen the licence plate, they didn't want to risk it," Danny reasoned.

"Perhaps. How would they go from here though? They have a scared four year old girl, they can't exactly just hail a cab or jump on the subway," Martin pointed out.

"They could have had a car stashed here," Danny speculated. "If they did perhaps one of the residents here saw something."

"It's worth a shot," Martin said sadly, they were clutching at straws, until the results came back from SOC or LA got back to them with news about a possible grudge they had nothing to go on.

FBI Headquarters.
3 hours missing

"Yeah . . yeah I got that . . thanks for letting us know so fast." Jack hung up and tried not to look as discouraged as he felt. That had been the SOC team, their preliminary examination of the car revealed nothing. Whoever was behind this knew what they were doing. If they didn't get a lead soon because if they didn't, Emily Mason was gone. Jack walked out of his office and headed over to Sam's desk. "LA got anything yet?" Sam shook her head.

"They said they'd call me the minute anything came up," Sam told him. "She's not gone yet Jack, it's only been a few hours."

"I know. Call LA, say we're pretty desperate down here, for anything." Sam nodded and turned to pick up the phone, Jack headed over to the conference table where the Mason's sat. The two boys, Tom and Andy looked bored, but they were too young to understand what was going on, for some reason that thought made Jack happier, perhaps knowing that in some places of the world there was still innocence.

"Jack," Sam called, Jack turned and headed back. "They've uncovered one possibility. Five months ago Dr Mason operated on a five year old girl, Catherine Preston, she'd been in a car accident, it was bad and she didn't make it. Her dad, Tony Preston, blamed Dr Mason for his daughters death." Jack nodded and headed back over to the conference table.

"Does the name Tony Preston mean anything to you Dr Mason?" Jack asked, Sean thought for a moment.

"Yeah the name does ring a bell. Hang on let me think for a minute. Oh yeah I operated on his daughter Catherine, she didn't make it. When I told him he got pretty abusive."

Flashback City Hospital

"Mr Preston?" Sean asked, coming into the waiting room in scrubs, a stethoscope hung casually around his neck. Mr Preston looked up instantly.

"Talk to me doc," Tony said, Sean sat down in the chair opposite Tony Preston, as many times as he'd had to do this it didn't get any easier.

"I'm sorry Mr Preston, Catherine didn't make it through surgery. There was extensive internal bleeding, there was nothing anybody could have done. I truly am sorry for your loss." Sean looked at him, hoping his face conveyed the sympathy he felt for the other man, if anything happened to Kate or Tom or Andy he didn't know what he'd do.

"You're sorry. You're sorry! If you were sorry you wouldn't have let my daughter die!" Tony Preston yelled standing up, his face flashing with anger, Sean stood up to match him wondering if he needed to call security.

"Mr Preston there was nothing anybody could have done, I assure you of that. However if you're unhappy with the job I did you can always make a complaint. Now I suggest you calm down sir, I know you must be going through hell right now. I can prescribe a sedative if you like." Sean tried to pacify him, out in the hall the nurses were watching the commotion. The duty nurse reached for the phone, she was going to call security, it never hurt to be too careful.

"I don't want your assurances, I don't want your sympathy and I don't want your sedatives! I want my daughter!" Sean didn't know what to say to that, words could not express what he needed to say, so he just stood there feeling inadequate. "You bloody doctors, you're all the same. Running around in your flashy sports cars, going home to your nice beachfront houses, with your perfect little families. Well let me tell you!" Tony Preston jabbed his finger in Sean's face. "When you let my daughter die you made the biggest mistake of your life, you hear me. You're going pay, I'll see to that." Tony Preston then stormed out just as security arrived, they moved to escort him off the premises but Sean waved them off, that man was going through hell enough without him adding to it.

End Flashback

"I didn't think anything of it at the time. Just a man grieving for his daughter, anger is often the most common way people express it. They need to blame somebody. When I didn't hear anything I assumed he'd calmed down," Sean finished. "Why do you think he's behind this?"

"At the moment we're not sure, we're still looking into every lead," Jack told them.

"Excuse me," Sean said, standing up suddenly. Sam noted that he'd gone very white. "Can you tell me where the bathroom is?"

"Straight down the hall, third door on the left. Are you feeling ok sir?" Sam directed, Sean waved her off and headed in that direction.

"Jack," Vivian called, motioning for him to come over. Jack stood up and walked over to her desk. "Jack look at this. It's Dr Mason's bank records. Over the last ten months he's made regular checks to a Mike Miller. The amount adds up to nearly twenty thousand." Jack whistled.

"That's a lot of money, even for a doctor," Jack observed.

"That's what I thought, the checks stopped completely last month," Vivian added.

"Guess I better go find out who Mike Miller is?" Jack sighed, hoping that Dr Mason wasn't involved in anything illegal, he hated it when that happened. "Sam where's Dr Mason?"

"Bathroom," Sam replied not looking up, Jack knew without checking that she was teaching Tom and Andy the game she called agent, it would keep them quiet and amused for hours. Jack headed towards the bathroom but stopped before he got there. Dr Mason was outside the bathroom on his cell phone.

"Yeah, yeah I know . . Look I just don't know how long I can cover for you . . You better be playing me straight man because if I find out your jerking me around . . Ok, alright already, I believe you . . yeah see you around." Sean hung up, Jack headed back into the unit before he was spotted, he'd ask Dr Mason about Mike Miller later.