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Chapter 5
An attractive woman in her mid-forties emerged from the car that followed the food van on to the waste ground. Angela Morris had been working with the homeless in New York for two years and sometimes felt overwhelmed by the enormity of the task. She talked to a few of her regular clients, before scanning the area and spotting a few new faces. The tall good looking man standing close to the fire caught her attention, she slowly walked over to join him, and he didn't acknowledge her presence.
"I've not seen you around here before." She said quietly.
He smiled softly.
"I'm not planning to stay long." he answered.
She went over to the van and collected some sandwiches, she handed the packet to him.
His hands were shaking as he opened them, then he just took small bites.
"You got a name?"
He threw her a confused look, then dropped his head.
"Well, how about we try Danny?"
His head shot up.
"You got any family Danny?"
Danny nodded. "Yeah," he hadn't been sure of many things over the last few days, but he knew he had family. He had seen their faces in his head many times over the last few days and he knew how comfortable he felt with them. "I have Martin and Samantha." He said confidently, what Danny couldn't remember now he had finally pieced together in to something that made sense to him.
She nodded and then went over to the van to fetch some coffee. Before returning to Danny she spoke quietly to one of the workers.
"Phone through to the FBI, tell them I think we've found their missing agent Danny Taylor." Angela was grateful she had taken some notice of the missing person flyer that had appeared on her desk that morning."
She went over to Danny and handed him the coffee. Even in the poor light she could see dried blood on his head and neck. Danny's thoughts seemed more and more jumbled, he was hurt, tired and the flashes of memory only seemed to confuse him more. He sipped at the coffee, gratefully for the warmth it provided.
They both looked over as dispute erupted over some of the food. A large thick set man was picking on one of the younger boys. Even in his present state, Danny didn't hesitate to step in to defend the boy. He pushed the man off and hauled the boy to his feet. Danny straightened up and found himself facing the man who had now pulled a knife, he launched himself at Danny. The blade sliced into Danny's arm, years of training kicked in and within minutes the man was out cold. He picked up the knife, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable with what he had done. He looked at the man on the ground and the men that now surrounded him. He held the knife out in front of him.
"Leave me alone." He ran off to the far side of the waste ground, feeling confused by the aggression he had shown.
Angela started to approach, but he turned the knife towards himself.
"Please just leave me alone, I'm dangerous, I could have killed that man."
Angela raised her hands.
"OK, Ok. Just stay here for a while by yourself. I'll keep the others back."
When the phone on Martin's desk started to ring, they both just stared at it, then Martin reached forward to answer it.
"Fitzgerald." Martin listened with interest and then began to smile. "Where? OK, we're on it."
"What is it? Is it Danny?"
Martin nodded and grabbed his coat.
"Somebody's just phoned in." Martin couldn't conceal his excitment. "They think they've spotted Danny with group of homeless guys at one of the outreach projects. Come on, we can contact Jack on the way."
The twenty minute drive seemed endless. As their car pulled in beside the food van, Angela ran up to meet them.
"Agents Spade and Fitzgerald." said Sam flashing her id as she got out of the car. "Where is he?
"We've had an incident. There was a fight, he's sitting down there against the wall, he has a knife, I think he's been stabbed, he's certainly bleeding. He doesn't seem to sure about who he is, the paramedics are on their way."
"Oh Martin." Sam was too tired and worried to hide her distress.
"Martin and Sam?" asked Angela pointing at them both. Sam nodded. "He mentioned you two, he didn't say you were colleagues. He said you were his family."
They looked at each other and smiled.
"We are his family." said Martin.
As they got nearer the light from the brazier made it possible to see Danny sitting against the wall.
Martin turned to Sam.
"Let me go and talk to him." he said.
She nodded and watched Martin walk towards his friend.
"Leave me alone." said Danny without looking up.
"Danny." Martin was shocked at his appearance, his normally immaculate partner was dirty, bedraggled and obviously in need of medical attention.
"Just go away, I don't want to hurt you." Pleaded Danny.
"You wouldn't hurt me Danny."
"How do you know that?" asked Danny flatly.
"Because we're family. Martin paused, struggling to find the right words to reassure Danny. "I've just spent the last three days searching for you and I can't begin to tell I good I feel now we've found you."
Danny stood up and leant back against the wall, he raised his head. Martin could see the blood running from under Danny's sleeve and he couldn't tell if Danny's face was bruised or dirty.
"Marty?"
"Yeah, it's me." He hated to see Danny so vulnerable. "Sam's just over there."
The knife clattered to the floor. Danny swayed and Martin moved in to support him, and he found himself enveloped in a hug. Martin had never been one for public displays of affection, never having been used to private ones in his family, but he hugged Danny back fiercely.
"Yeah." grinned Martin. "It's good to see you too." He felt Danny start to shiver and then to sob quietly, the tension of the last few days desperate for release. Martin rubbed his back and talked softly to his friend reassuring him that everything would be alright.
Sam contacted Jack and told him they'd found Danny, he said he would join them as soon as he could.
Martin eased Danny to the ground, removing his jacket and pushed up the sleeve of Danny's jumper so he could deal with the wound on his arm. Sam knelt at his side and used Martin's handkerchief to put pressure on the knife wound that was bleeding freely. Danny turned his head to look at Sam, his face was grazed, bloody and dirty, but he had never looked better to her.
"D'you know how good it feels to find you?" said Sam.
Danny smiled back at her.
"Yes." he said slowly. "I'm really cold Sam."
"Of course you are." Sam took her coat off and laid it on top of Danny.
They reluctantly moved out of the way to let the paramedics prepare Danny for the trip to the hospital. Jack arrived just as he was being placed in the ambulance. Sam went in to sit along side him, he clutched her hand tightly as if he expected her to disappear into one of his nightmares. Danny had been so cold when they found him, the paramedic attempted to warm him up.