25 Hours Missing

10:15 AM

The Food Court

Jesse lay flat on her stomach watching the men walk around while one of them talked to Patrick on a cell phone. She looked over at Martin and shot him a smile, as she began to back away from them. "And where do you think you're going?" Danny asked her, as she paused next to him.

"I'm gonna go for help," she answered, as she looked at the men. "Don't worry about me. I'm sure that you guys can take them down once I get them distracted."

"You get shot, Martin is gonna kill you."

"I know that." She then shot Martin another smile the moment before she jumped to her feet and bolted towards the elevator.

"Shoot her," the man ordered the other men, who then opened fire upon Jesse. Jesse ducked behind a food stand just in time, as bullets dug into the tile around her. "Patrick wants her dead."

"Oh, that's good to know," Jesse whispered to herself, as she made another dash for the elevator, getting five yards this time, and slid to safety behind a collection of trash bins. "This isn't fun anymore."

"Freeze," a voice commanded and the men looked up to see four armed police officers behind them.

"No," the man replied, as the opened fire upon the police officers, forcing them to take cover. "We're here to kill the girl."

"We can't allow you to do that," one of the officers said, as Martin, Sam, and Danny made their way to their sides. "I take it that you're the FBI Agents we were told to keep an eye out for."

"That would be us," Danny replied, as Martin looked over to see Jesse start to run for the door only to take a shot to the chest. "That's not good."

"Shep!" Martin yelled, as he ran towards her. He slid across the tile until he was next to her. "Shep!"

"Sorry, Marty," she whispered, as she struggled to catch her breath. Martin shot a glance down to see that she had taken the shot directly to the chest. Martin moved aside her coat and moved up her shirt to come across a Kevlar vest. A small smile crossed his face.

"That's my girl," he said, as he readjusted her shirt. "Using your head."

"Martin, watch out," a voice called out from behind him and he turned to get a punch in the face. The man then took out his gun and pointed it at Jesse's head only to have her kick him in the crotch before he could fire. The man fell to the floor and Martin grabbed onto Jesse's arm pulling her to her feet. "Get out of there."

"Come on," Martin ordered Jesse, as they headed for a safe area. They found one next to the Dairy Queen stall. "That was fun."

"Ow, that hurts," Jesse said, as she struggled to catch her breath. "Why didn't you ever mention that getting shot hurts?"

"Because I really didn't think I had to." Martin shot a glance over to see that Patrick's men and the police officers were now in a full fledge shoot out. "That's not a good thing."

"Martin, look," Jesse said, as she pointed to the small girl stranded under the table in the middle of the food court. They looked over to see that her mother was trying to figure out how to get to her daughter without getting shot. "We have to help her."

"What do you have in mind?"

"A dash and grab." She then took off her coat and got ready to run. "You'll cover me right?"

"Always." She then took off for the child. She slid under the table, grabbed the child, and took off for their safe spot. A bullet whizzed past her head as she slid into safety beside Martin. "You okay?"

"I'm good." Jesse then looked down at the little girl in her lap. "Hi."

"I want my mommy," the little girl cried out with huge tears in her eyes. "I want my mommy."

"We'll take you to your mommy after this is over." The little girl then curled into Jesse's chest and began to cry.

"Hush, little one." Jesse then looked over to see two people who looked like FBI agents come up behind Danny and Sam. "Are they with you?"

Martin looked up to see Jack and Vivian and a small smile crossed his face. "Yep, that's Jack and Vivian," he told her, as they watched the police take down Patrick's men. "And like that it's over."

Jesse got up and took the little girl to her mother. "Thank you," she said, as she took her daughter from Jesse. "Thank you so much." She then went over to were the police officers were rounding up the other people to take their eye-witness testimonies.

"You did good, Shep," Danny teased her, as they came up to them and he gave hera quick pat on the back. "Nice idea to have a bullet proof vest."

"Yeah, but it still hurts getting shot," Jesse said, as she looked over at Jack and Vivian. "Hi, I'm Jesse Shepherd."

"It's nice to meet you, Miss Shepherd," Jack said, as he shook her hand. "I understand that it was doing that our agents got out of there alive."

"It was my idea, but they helped me."

"Jessica, you're going down," the lead man of Patrick's man yelled at her, as the police started to haul him and the others away. "Your father will kill you."

Jesse left Martin's side and went up to him. "I'm not afraid of him anymore," she said, as she looked at him. "I would be more afraid for myself if I was you. You didn't complete your objective. You lost to a girl."

"I'm gonna get you when I get out."

"I don't think so." The officers then dragged him away.

"Hey, Shep," Martin called out to her. "We're going now."

"Finally." She grabbed her coat before she joined the others by the elevators. "Can we at least get some food before we start the Q and A?"

"Sounds like a great idea," Danny said, as they looked over at Jack.

"Sure," Jack said, with a small smile on his face. "You guys deserve that much."

"Thank you," four voices said in unison, as the elevator started to go down.

26 hours

TBC

Please review and tell me what you think.

What will happen when Jesse meets Victor? Will they catch Patrick? What will happen to Jesse?