Pain…that's all there was. No light, no sound, just pain. In his head, in his leg, but the worst pain was in his shoulder. A searing hot pain burning a fiery hole through him. He couldn't see, he couldn't move, he couldn't breathe, he could only feel the pain. He clung to it; it was the only thing that told him that he was still alive.
Slowly…very slowly he was coming back, he could feel something beneath him, something soft under his sore head and something warm beside him.
"Sam?" he whispered so softly it was barely audible. "What happened?"
"You got shot," said a soft child-like voice.
"Shot?" how the hell did that happen?
Something shifted beside him. "Ow," he complained at the movement.
"Oh, I'm sorry did I hurt you," the voice said, sounding nervous and jumpy. It wasn't Sam.
"I'm fine," the world was starting to come back into focus.
His head spin as his slowly opened his eyes. He was in a small bedroom, of sorts, that was run down and dirty and it was dark with only a little light coming in through the windows.
Slowly Martin turned his head to the left to see a young girl looking back at him, she was kind of familiar. She had light brown hair pulled back in a pony tail, greenish-brown eyes with glasses sliding down her nose. Then the memories started coming back.
"Janey?" he looked questioningly at her.
"Yeah," the brown-haired girl smiled slightly showing little dimples. "How do you know my name?"
"I'm with the FBI and I've been looking for you," his head still hurt, but he remembered what had happened now and his mind was clearing up.
The girl just stared at him, over her glasses, for a minute. "Why?"
"Because you were missing," he would have thought that would have been obvious. "And it's my job."
"But why would you waste your time looking for someone like me? There must be more important people for you to look for?"
Martin just stared at the girl; there was no one more important.
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FBI HQ, Manhattan Janey Missing Thirty-Five Hours Martin Missing Ten Hours 6:17 PM
Jack sat in his office staring at the forensics report in his hand trying to make sense of what he was seeing. He had a thought and it made sense, it would explain why Martin had been so upset…and secretive.
Sighing he stood up and walked into the bullpen where the rest of his team was waiting.
"I got the forensics back," he held up the file as he sat down. He opened the file and look at it like it was the first time he'd seen it. "There were two people bleeding at the scene," he paused.
"Was one Martin?" Danny asked when Jack didn't continue.
"DNA says yes"
The group dropped their eyes, all sharing the same fear.
"But it's the second donor that interests me," Jack said getting the attention of his team back. "It's Janey's…and its 43 presence match to Martin's," he watched the group closely.
"What does that mean?" Danny wondered.
Jack said nothing as he looked around the room at each of them, Vivian knew, Danny might, Sam won't look at him.
"It means she's his daughter," Jack sounded almost angry.
"Do you think he knew?" Vivian asked.
"Not at first, no," Jack sighed again. "He found records that someone had been sending money for Janey wherever she went and there were checks at the group home that were signed by a 'V. Fitzgerald'," the group's eyes grew wide. "He called his father and came back and told me: 'he doesn't know anything', but I got the feeling that he wasn't telling me everything. I'm guessing that when he found out."
"But isn't he a little young to have a kid her age?" Danny questioned.
"He's what, 35? She's 16, that means he would have been about 19," Jack told him. "Probably going into college."
"And boys just going into college don't always use the best judgment," Vivian said.
"Exactly," Jack agreed. "Especially after growing up in a strict environment like he did. Having all the sudden freedom of college might have made him do something stupid."
"But if Martin didn't know, how did his father?" Danny asked.
"Maybe it happened before college," Vivian suggested. "If the girl got pregnant before he left, she would have been in his hometown and he would have been away at college."
"And maybe the girl came looking for Martin to get child support and told Victor and Victor never told Martin about it and sent the girl money," Jack thought aloud.
"What does any of this have to do with getting Martin back?" Sam snapped. "He could be out there bleeding to death and we're here speculating on how he might have got somebody pregnant!" she stood and ran to the bathroom, unable to hold the tears back any longer.
The others stared after her quietly for a moment.
"Do you think I should go after her?" Vivian asked.
"No, give her a few minutes," Jack said softly. "Samantha's right, though, we need to found out where Randy Vice might have taken them."
"Jack!"
Everyone looked to see, none other than, Victor Fitzgerald walking quickly towards them.
"Victor," Jack rose to shake the Deputy Director's hand.
"Any news?" the elder Fitzgerald asked, anxious.
"No more than I told you earlier," Jack answered.
"We have to get him back, Jack," Victor looked Jack in the eye. "His poor mother is beside herself with worry," he sounded little worried himself.
"We'll find him."
"I can't understand why he would do something so stupid!"
"Wouldn't you do anything you could to save your child?" Jack asked.
Victor just stared at Jack.
"We know, Victor."
"Know what?" Victor asked.
"That Janey is Martin's daughter," Jack answered.
The two men just stared at each other.
"Agent Malone?" an agent called from behind him, Jack turned. "There's a detective on the phone for you."
Jack picked up the phone. "Malone…un-huh…great, bring him in," he hung up and look at the others, just as Samantha was coming back into the room. "We've got a witness."
An hour later Jack and Danny were sitting in the interrogation room with a young homeless boy who called the police about the shooting and claimed to have seen the whole thing. Vivian, Samantha and Victor were standing outside the glass listening.
"Can you tell us what you saw?" Danny asked the boy.
"Yeah, I was just lying there when I heard yelling and stuff. Then this girl came out from one side of the room and this man came up from the stairs on the other side and they both had guns."
Flashback
Martin ran up the stairs and saw Janey pointing a gun at him; he dropped his cell phone and pulled out his own gun.
"Janey put the gun down!"
The girl just stared at him.
"I'm with the FBI and I'm here to help you, put the gun down"
The fear on the girl's face was obvious, but she stood fast.
"No! I don't need you're help, go away!"
"Janey, I need you to thrust me, put…the gun…down," Martin knew she didn't want to hurt him. She was terrified.
"Please…no," her voice was softer. "I'm-I'm fine, really," she stared into his eyes.
"Okay, just put the gun down," Martin lowered his gun a little, trying to show her he wasn't going to hurt her.
The girl stared intently into Martin's eyes, fear plainly showing, then she moved her eyes, not her head, to her right and back to his eyes, Martin watched quietly as she did this three more times, tears in her eyes. He understood and nodded just slightly, raised his gun back up and to the right of the girl and slowly took a step closer. But that when it happened, girl slipped, the gun fired and Martin fell back down the steps he'd come up.
The boy had been watching from behind some boxes fell backwards at sound the shot, but saw Janey run towards the stairs, stop, pick something up and then hurry down the stairs.
End Flashback
"What did you do after that?" Jack asked him.
"I got the hell out of there, man! That girl just shot a FBI agent, I wasn't gonna stick around so she could shoot me too!" the boy exclaimed.
"You said she picked something up, did you see what it was?" Danny questioned.
"Nah, man, I don't know. But that guy, he dropped his gun, when she shot him. You know, maybe it was that."
"Did you see anyone else around?" Jack inquired.
"Nah, no one, man."
"You said the girl slipped, do you think firing the gun was an accident?" Danny wondered.
"I don't know, maybe," the boy shrugged.
"Okay, thank you," Jack and Danny got up and left the room.
"It must have been an accident," Danny was saying as they walked out where the others were. "Why would Janey shoot him?"
"I don't know," Jack answered. "And where was Vice? And how did Janey end up bleeding? We have too many questions and no good answers."
It was going to be a long night.
Janey Missing Forty-Two Hours
Martin Missing Seventeen Hours 1:13 AM
Martin woke up again in the middle of the night, much more alert then before. He tried to move his left arm and found Janey's head was resting on his shoulder and that his hand was handcuffed to the old metal bed he was lying on, his right arm was tied across his chest with Janey's hands tied to his wrist, his feet seemed to be tied at the other end of the bed as well. His shoulder was banged up and hurt less, his leg also hurt a little along with his head. He could hear a TV from the other room, the door was closed and there was only a little light.
"This is a fine mess you've gotten yourself into," he scolded himself.
"Huh?" Janey looked up at him, wide awake.
"Nothing I was just talking to myself," he said. "I thought you were sleeping"
"Can't sleep," she answered, "Not with him here," she looked towards the door then back to Martin.
"Are you really with the FBI?"
He smiled as she looked at him with great curiosity. "Yeah, my ID's in my pocket here if you want to see for yourself," he nodded towards his left breast pocket. Janey moved her hands gently to pull the ID out of his pocket and open it up.
"Cool," she grinned, dimples showing. "'Martin Fitzgerald'. Is that really your name?"
"Yeah," he grinned at the excitement in her voice.
"Cool," she said again. "That's a cool name!"
"Thanks," Martin smiled.
"Do people ever call you 'Fitzy'?"
Martin chuckled, "A friend of mine did when I first joined the FBI."
"So, your friend's with the FBI too?"
"Yeah, he is."
"What's his name?"
"Danny Taylor."
"Oh, then whose 'Sam'?"
Martin stared at her, wondering how she know that name.
"You don't remember? You called me that when you first woke up," she answered his unspoken question.
"Right," he looked away.
"Is he your friend, too?"
"She," he corrected. "Samantha Spade, yes, she's my friend."
"I see."
They lay quietly for a little while.
"What happen before?" Martin asked. "When I got shot."
Janey made a face, "Sorry 'bout that I didn't mean to. But he cut me," she managed to pull her shirt up so he could see the long cut on her side. "I didn't mean to pull the trigger."
"That's okay; I know you didn't mean it."
"I didn't want to point that gun at you either, he made-"
"I know, Janey, its okay, it's not your fault," he smiled.
"This whole damn mess is my fault!"
"No, it's not, Janey," Martin tried to comfort her.
"Yes, it is! I'm always causing trouble, ask anybody."
"It's going to be okay."
They both stayed quiet for a long time.
"Do you think your friends are looking for you?" she wanted to know.
"I know they are," he assured her.
"Do you think they'll find us?" she looked worried.
"Janey look at me," she turned her head to look him in the eye. "We're going to get out of here, we're going to be okay," he looked deep into the girl's greenish eyes and somehow seeing a part of himself.
"I'm going to take care of you," he smiled reassuringly. Janey sighed as she snuggled down close to him and drifted off to sleep. Martin put his left arm around her as best he could and then kissed her forehead. "I'll take care of you, I promise"
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FBI HQ, Manhattan Janey Missing Forty-Nine Hours Martin Missing Twenty-Four Hours 7:56 AM
Nobody got very much sleep that night and came into work early, they talk to Randy Vice's ex-wife and found out that he had been abusing their girls and that he had a drinking problem, but nothing else they didn't already know.
Jack got the Press involved and all the news stations had Janey and Martin's pictures and were running the story, hoping to get a lead. Jack had made Martin out as a hero trying to save a little girl from an evil man and the public was eating it up, they'd been getting tips like crazy. Sam, Jack and even Vivian were in the office helping answer all the phones with several other agents while Danny ran around checking on the good leads.
They spent most of their day like that, but once Sam found herself taking a, much needed, break standing in front of the white broad staring at Martin's picture that was hanging there along with Janey's. She didn't notice the tears running down her face and she didn't notice Vivian walk up beside her.
"That's a good picture of him," she said, causing Sam to jump.
"Yeah, it is," she looked from Viv back to the picture and couldn't help smiling at tiny smile on Martin's face.
"He's going to be fine, Sam," Viv placed a hand on her arm.
Samantha turned to face Martin's lonely desk. "Sometimes I look over there," she gestured towards his desk, her voice shaky. "And I can see him sitting there, hard at work, eating a cheeseburger," she started to cry and couldn't stop.
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Janey Missing Fifty-Three Hours
Martin Missing Twenty-Eight Hours 12:12 PM
Martin lay awake staring at the ceiling trying to decide if there was anything he could do to help his teammates find him. If he had his cell phone that would help, but he didn't even know what happened to it.
He looked over at Janey still sleeping soundly on his shoulder, he was glad that she felt safe enough with him there to get some rest. Martin found himself wishing he'd known her all her life and been able to watch her grow. He damned his father for lying to him all these years.
As he laid there the door to the room suddenly opened and a bright light shown into the room. A dark figure moved towards them, stumbling as he went. Martin glared up at the man as he stood over him and reached down towards Martin's chest. Martin was to well tied to do anything as the man untied Janey's hands from his wrist and pulled on her. She woke with a start and started fighting the man's efforts to take her with him, but the man was stronger and he pulled Janey out of the room. Martin struggled with his bonds, but only hurt himself more than anything.
Outside the room Martin could hear Janey screaming, that sick son-of-a-bitch was going to rape her and there was noting he could do to stop it. He listened helpless as Janey fought and screamed, then he heard the slapping sound of the man's hand connecting with Janey's face, she stopped screaming.
Then came the sudden sound of breaking glass, Martin continued to fight with the restrains that held him.
"Janey!" he called, it was too quiet out there.
Much to Martin's surprise the girl appeared in the doorway, he hadn't noticed before but she was wearing only her pajamas and they looked like he'd tried to pull them off her, her face was bleeding as well.
"Janey," he breathed a sigh of relief as she ran over to him. "What happened?"
"I hit him with a beer bottle," her voice was a little shaky. "We gotta get out of here," she said anxiously as she tried to find a way to free Martin.
"Janey," he started, serious. "You have to go."
Her eyes locked with his. "I'm not leaving you here."
"Janey, you have to, you don't have time to free me, now go," he looked at her intently.
She started to cry, "I'm not leaving you!"
He stared deep into her eyes, trying to make her see that she had no choice, she cried harder.
"No, no, no! He'll kill you!" she fell down over him hugging him close to her.
"He won't if you hurry," Martin said thinking on his toes.
The girl looked up at him, "What do you mean?"
"You can save me, runaway find a phone and call the New York Office of the FBI and tell them where I am."
"They'd never believe me and you know it!" she yelled. Then she suddenly remembered something she'd long forgotten. She reached pass Martin's head to the hole in the mattress she'd found earlier and pulled out Martin's cell phone.
"Where'd you get that?" he stared.
"I picked it up after I sorta shot you."
"That's perfect, you take that and you run far away from here and you call my friend Danny Taylor, his number's in there and you tell him where to find me, okay?"
"Okay."
"Now go, run, and don't look back!"
She stood staring at him, tears and blood running down her face. "I can't do this, Martin."
"Yes, you can," he tried to think of something to give her courage. "Here," he said as he pulled his ID badge put of his pocket. "Take this with you."
She took it and stared down at it. "Won't you need it?"
"You can give it back to me after this is all over," he smiled.
"Okay," she sniffed.
"Now go, run, and don't look back."
She slowly backed away.
"Go, run, Janey, run!"
And she ran.
To Be Continued…