19 Hours Missing

6th Street Homeless Shelter

Harold looked up from cleaning the table with a scowl on his face as Danny and Sam came up to his side. "What do you want now?" he asked, as he continued to clean the table. "You all ready made life for us harder by taking away Zee and Shepherd."

"And we're so sorry about that," Danny said, as he sat down on the table forcing Harold to stop. "Okay, here's the deal. We're just here to talk. If you want to make a scene, we can take you in to ask you these questions."

"Fine, ask away." Harold tossed the rag onto the table and looked over at them. "What did Shepherd do now?"

"What you mean?"

"Don't you know what kind of life she used to do in her past. She used to steal cars and stuff."

"Okay," Sam said, as she looked around. "We knew that part, and we know that Shepherd really doesn't let her past show. So how did you know this?"

"I have sources." He pulled out a piece of gum and tossed it into his mouth. "I know that someone from the F.B.I. helped her get her job here. It took me four months to get this job and she gets it in a matter of weeks. That's not fair."

"So you're jealous of the fact that Jesse has connections that she used to get this job?" Danny shot a glance around. "Don't you think that if she could have gotten a better job, she would have?"

"Yeah, you're probably right." Harold ran a hand through his hair before looking over at Sam. "We heard that she got shot. Is that true?"

"Yeah, she got shot."

"Cool." A wicked smile came to his face. "That'll teach her not to hotwire a car again."

"She hot wired a car?"

"Yeah, Elizabeth's keys went missing, so Shepherd jimmied her door open and hot wired her car for her so that she could go home. Shepherd would give Elizabeth her heart if she could. She did everything for that girl. She taught her, stood up for her, protected her. It makes me sick."

"Why because Shepherd made you stop picking on Elizabeth?" Sam asked him, as she looked over at Danny. "That's it. Elizabeth needed this job but you were making her quit it because of the harrasment that she was receiving here at work. Shepherd knew about it, and tried to make you stop the easy way."

"What do you mean the easy way?"

"If it was up to Shep, she could have conned you into getting her own way," Danny said, as he pulled out a surveillance picture of the car, that the people who had shot Jesse drove. "Have you seen this car around here?"

"Yeah." Harold then dug into his pockets for a pack of cigarettes. "That guys's been hanging around here for the last couple of weeks, trying to learn all that he could about Shepherd. It was really pathetic. I never said a word to Shepherd about it, being that she had her hands full with training Elizabeth at the time."

"Why didn't you tell your manager?"

"It's none of his business that a strange guy came up to me on my smoke break and asked me stupid questions about Shepherd. I thought that it was one of her lame boyfriends hoping to make things up with her by learning what she likes so that he could get her a gift."

"You're an idiot, Harold," Sam said, as they got to their feet. "That man, was the same person who kidnaped Elizabeth. Don't you know any better than to talk to someone you don't know?"

"No, I don't." Harold then went back to work, forcing Danny off the table. "It's not in my genes. But I'm sure Shepherd does, since she grew up around trash all her life."

"Thanks for you time, man," Danny said, as he and Sam headed for the door. The moment they were outside, Sam kicked a trash can and let out a deep breath. "He's nice and loyal to his co-workers." They headed for his car. "Bet he would sell them off in a blink of an eye."

"I fell sorry for the girls for working with him," Sam said, as she slid into the passenger seat. "No wonder that Shepherd was protecting Elizabeth from him. She knew a bully when she saw one, and knew that Elizabeth wouldn't ever be able to face him on her own."

"Sounds like our girl." They then headed back to work, so that they could tell Jack what they had learned.

Clarksdale Hospital

"I want to go home," Jesse said to the doctor as he checked her wound again. "I'm sick of hospital food." That got Martin to chuckle, as he looked from his magazine to the doctor. "I promise that I won't be shot again for a while. I just want to go home."

"Fine, I'll release you into Agent Fitzgerald's custody," the doctor said, as a smile crossed her face. "But you can't do much activity that would cause those stitches to reopen. I won't want you back in having to get stitched up again."

"Yes, Sir," Jesse said, with a mock salute. "I promise to keep from getting shot for a while now."

"She's all yours," the doctor said to Martin, as he shook his hand before he handed over some pain medicine prescriptions. "Good luck. You're gonna need it." Then he was gone.

"I get to go home." She slowly got out of bed and headed for the bathroom with her clothes. "Yeah, I get to go home. Now I get to eat some real food." Martin waited about five minutes before she came out of the bathroom dressed in a pair of black jeans, tennis shoes, and a sweatshirt. "I'm only sad that Zee isn't going home too."

"We'll find her," Martin said, as they headed out of the hospital. "Don't you worry about it." Martin unlocked his car and opened the door for her.

"I'm not." She got in and shot him a smile. "If I went missing, I would want you guys to find me."

"Well that's good to know." Martin then tossed her his phone. "Call Sam and tell her the news."

"Goodie, I get to talk to Sam." She dialed Sam's number and smiled, as Martin turned onto the busy street. "I get to hang out with you guys for a couple of days before I have to go back to school."

FBI: Missing Person's Head Quarters

Sam's cell phone went off and she looked at the caller id to see that it was Martin. "Hey," she said into the phone, as she continued to do her work. "They kidnaped the wrong girl. They meant to snag Shep."

"What!" Jesse's voice came through the phone, and Sam froze. "What do you mean that they got the wrong girl. I was the one who was supposed to get kidnaped."

"Jesse, you weren't supposed to learn this way," Sam said, as Danny came over to her side with a picture. "Aren't you still in the hospital?"

"No, I got out today." The phone then was passed over to Martin. "Martin, it's Sam. She's got info to share."

"What happened?" Martin asked Sam, as he pulled his car into his apartment's parking lot and shut off the car. He then watched as Jesse got out of the car and let out a loud scream of frustration. "Sam?"

"The kidnapers took the wrong girl. They were supposed to take Jesse but got mixed up somehow and took Elizabeth."

"Oh. That's not good."

"I didn't mean for her to learn it this way, Martin."

"I know." Martin got out of his car and watched as Jesse kicked a stone structure. "She's not all that happy right now. I'm gonna settle her down at my place and I'll give you guys a call back."

"Okay, Martin." Then the line was dead.

"Jesse, we need to talk," Martin called out to her and she turned to face him with tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry what happened to Elizabeth, and I'm sorry to learn that it was supposed to be you and not her. But we have to work together on this to bring her home. They think that they have you. Once they learn that it's not you that they have. She has a limited time."

"They'll kill her," Jesse said, as she wiped away her tears. "I understand the risks, Martin. I'll help you guys out as much as I can."

"That's my girl." Martin slipped his arm around her shoulders and ushered her towards the elevator. "Why don't we grab some food and some different clothes, before we head to work."

"Sounds like a great plan."

TBC

Please review and tell me what you thought.

Jesse just learned that she was meant to be the one to get kidnaped not Elizabeth. How will she deal with it? What will the kidnapers do to Elizabeth once they realize that she's not Jesse?