Chapter 16

Jack stood outside Sue's apartment trying to catch his breath and calm himself down. Nothing made sense. There was a drug deal going on that he was powerless to stop and they were going to use Sue to help them. They didn't seem to mind attacking an FBI agent, letting her go, showing up at her work the next day, then kidnapping her 2 days later. It seemed stupid to him, but then again they had the upper hand. They had Sue, and the FBI had no idea where they were. He didn't understand what they wanted. He prayed that they didn't intend to kill her. Jack was lost in his thoughts when someone came up quietly behind him.

"Jack?" Bobby said in a whisper. Jack turned around. "I just thought you should know that they are going to take Tara to the hospital soon, but I think she's starting to wake up. I thought maybe you would want to be there when she does." Jack nodded. Words escaped him. Bobby looked at him closely, reading his thoughts and feeling the guilt of his actions. "Jack, I'm so sorry. This is all my fault. If anything happens to her, I don't know how I'm going to live with myself. I don't blame you for being angry with me either."

"Bobby – don't. This isn't your fault. You were deceived just like the rest of us. We're going to find her." He couldn't let dark thoughts cloud his mind any longer. He had one goal, and that was to find Sue before it was too late. He slapped Bobby on the shoulder and tried to muster up a smile. "After you crash…" Bobby looked at him and without words they knew that everything was okay between them and that they would work as hard as they could together to find their friend.

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"She's coming too guys." exclaimed Myles. Bobby stepped forward and took Tara's hand. The paramedics stood close by, allowing them to talk to her briefly before she was taken to the hospital.

"What happened?" She said quietly, her eyes fluttering. "Where am I?"

"You're still at Sue's apartment Sheila." Bobby responded quietly. Tara jerked up suddenly as Myles and D tried to lay her back down.

"SUE! I need to help her. They took her. Let me go help her!" She cried. The 4 men had trouble restraining their emotions at her terror.

"Tara – we need any information you can give us about what happened so we can find Sue." Jack prayed that she would be able to help them and that she would remember. She sat in silence for a few minutes, a hand on her forehead where a giant bump and bruise were starting to form.

"I was at my computer when I found out the link between Greg and Pratner. I think I was on the phone with you guys." The men nodded. "I turned to tell Sue and didn't see her there, so I put the phone down. She had gone to answer the door. I followed her. Two men forced the door open and I screamed. They took this white cloth and put it over Sue's mouth and she passed out." Tears started to stream down her face. "I barely had any time to react, I just froze. They came over to me and I started to fight back. Then I think one of them hit me with something and everything went blank. I'm so sorry, I let them take her. We need to go find her." She moved to get up again and Bobby held her down.

"No Tara, you're going to the hospital. We're going to look for Sue. It's not your fault. It's no one's fault here." D responded. The paramedics moved forward. Tara started to lose consciousness again. She started muttering. They all turned towards her again.

"Pills, took pills, put in her mouth, pills…" she muttered softly. They all looked at each other quizzically. Jack then went to the kitchen where Sue's sleeping pills were kept. They were gone. He looked all over but noticed a few spilt on the floor.

"They took her sleeping pills." Jack said, "That's probably how they'll subduing her. We all know Sue; she's not going to just sit passively without a fight."

"Then how do they expect her to translate for them? She's not going to jump at the opportunity and knowing her she'll probably refuse altogether." Myles replied.

"They must have a plan of some way of forcing her. Let's get back to the bullpen and start working. We know the deal is sometime tomorrow. Its only 9, which means there's at least 3 more hours before anything will happen. It's going to be hard without Tara's computer skills. I'm going to call in backup." D responded. They all agreed silently. Jack was the last to leave the apartment. He took a last glance inside at the emptiness and wished things were back to the way they were before this case. I'll find you Sue, Jack promised, wishing Sue could hear his thoughts.

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Everything was dark; she couldn't make out where she was. She felt drowsy and weak. She could tell they were moving in some sort of large vehicle. As to where she had no clue. She prayed for strength. I won't back down, she thought. The vehicle suddenly lurched and she went flying forward.

"Ah. Miss Thomas, you're awake." The open door let in a bit of light from a streetlamp. She caught a glance of a sign that said Cakeman's Warehouse. Then she turned to her captor. It was Greg.

"What do you want with me?" She asked quietly, holding back the tears, wondering what she did wrong but not ready to give him the justification of letting him see her cry.

"Oh, Sue. We have plenty in store for you." He took a cloth and covered her mouth. She tried to scream, kick and bite anything she could but lost consciousness before she could do any damage. Greg leaned over to her limp body and ran his hand across her face. He bent over and kissed her. She was helpless against his advances.

"Brendan?" someone asked behind him before he could do anything more.

"What is it James?" He turned and looked at the other man behind him.

"Do you want me to bring her inside?"

"Sure, one second though." Brendan Pratner took a pill bottle from out of his pocket, and grabbed a pill out of it and popped it in Sue's mouth. He sat her up and poured some water down her throat. She choked slightly, but didn't awaken. James picked her up and brought her into the warehouse. He laid her on the cold cement floor in a small room in the basement, then closed and locked the door.

"You sure it's smart kidnapping an FBI agent, I mean it was bad enough attacking her in the park. Don't you think they'll come after us and screw up this deal?" James asked Brendan.

"Don't worry buddy, I've got it all planned out. They have no clue where we are, or even that I'm "Greg". Even if the geniuses figured that out, they have no hope of finding us. Cain and I took special measures to make sure that didn't leak. When she found out the code words, I knew that we had no choice but to take her, even though it is going to turn to our advantage. She won't be going back to them and she will comply. It's not about her anyways. We have a good 15 hours until Cain gets here. It's time to have a little fun with our little guest here and her friends back at the FBI."

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Sue lay shivering on the cold floor, oblivious to what the next 24 hours were going to hold. Jack and his team were racing to find out where she was. It was hope that kept them going. Hope that her strength would prevail until they found her and that they would be given the wisdom to be able save her.