When she finally got control of herself, she walked to her desk and quickly dialed a memorized number. "What do you want," Martin snapped on the other end. She physically jerked the phone from her ear, but set her jaw and said, "Martin, I'm sorry. I know that doesn't sound like much, but I certainly never intended to see you get hurt. I know I'm the last person you want to talk to right now, but with what happened tonight, I think we both know this is over. We just aren't meant to be….agreed?" Martin just growled, "Go to hell, Samantha" and hung up.
She vaguely remembered the subway ride, but somehow ended up at her front door. Should she go to his house? Should she call him? She just officially ended it with Martin, but her caustic words most likely ended it with Jack too. She was sad about Martin, but was growing more and more panicky about the thought of what she had just done to Jack. After all, he was obviously trying to show her he still cared and what had he said?…he had so much he needed to tell me. And I go and cut the legs out from under him; the one (and maybe last) person he thought would always be there for him had just blasted him apart. The internal monologue went on and on and served to prove to her that she loved Jack and only Jack. With that dawning, she set out to find him. Of course, he didn't answer his home phone or cell, and she cursed the technology that provided caller ID. Even though it was now 1:30 in the morning, she grabbed her jacket and headed to his house. She figured even if he wouldn't answer the door, he had to come out or come home sooner or later. And she would be sitting right there when he did.
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Jack somehow found his car and made his way home. Her words and anger bombarded his mind, heart and soul. His anguish was so deep that his physical body actually ached. Knowing he could not bear to see her again, he did something he never thought he would do. The once sure and confident Jack Malone ran. He quickly changed into casual clothes, threw some clothes into a bag, yanked the phone cord out of the wall, and shut off his cell phone. Next he opened the small safe in the closet and deposited his badge, credentials and pistol while grabbing the envelope with cash he always kept for emergencies. He grimaced at how he surely never counted on THIS being the reason he would use the cash.
Finally, he wrote a check to cover the next two months rent and headed to the ATM on the corner, dropping the rent check into the manager's night deposit slot as he left the building. Drawing out $500, he flagged a taxi and told the driver to head to Queens as he tried desperately to clear his mind. Once in Queens he instructed the driver to drop him off at the bus station. After the taxi rounded the corner, he flagged another Yellow Cab and asked him to drive to the nearest car rental location.
It was now pushing three in the morning. He was amazed and a bit disgusted at himself and his actions and he was exhausted mentally, physically and emotionally. Knowing full well they would probably start a search sometime tomorrow or maybe even later today, he realized he was trying to disappear without a trace. It was ironic that this was a team of the best missing persons agents he knew…..ones he had personally coached and trained for the past several years. He had to chuckle sourly that it might really only be Danny and Viv looking for him, thinking Martin would be thrilled to put his file in the cold case cabinet…and Samantha, well, she had told him goodbye.
His mind flashed to the bullpen and he saw his photo on the white board by the conference table. He heard Viv say, "John Michael Malone also known as Jack Malone, age 45, Supervisory Special Agent with New York's Missing Persons Unit for the past 12 years. Recently divorced father of two. Ex-wife and children now living in Chicago. Last seen leaving this office last night around 9:30 pm after a heated altercation with Special Agents Martin Fitzgerald and Samantha Spade. The altercation apparently centered on Jack's undying love for Samantha and his attempt to rebuild a romantic relationship. He reportedly was completely devastated and lost after the altercation." He snapped out of it when the cabbie said, "Hey, mister, that'll be $15 bucks."
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Samantha sat on the floor in the hallway in front of Jack's apartment for the past two hours with her mind running wild, and it was now 4 am. She suddenly cursed herself for not thinking more clearly. He wouldn't have come home because that is the first place anyone would have looked. Hopefully he was just passed out in a bar somewhere and not wandering the streets making himself a target. She decided to go home and try to get at least a few hours sleep before work. She thought that maybe he'd drag in later in the day and she could force him to listen to her apology and beg for his forgiveness.
By 7:30 am she had been at her desk for an hour when Danny breezed in with his usual cheery good morning, followed shortly by Vivian. They both couldn't help but notice that Samantha seemed incredibly jumpy, looked like hell, and kept glancing down the hallway toward the elevator banks. To add to the weirdness of the situation, Jack still wasn't in and Martin called in sick around 8:30. By ten o'clock Danny and Vivian were sharing more nervous glances and thought Samantha was going to explode, but she wouldn't say a thing—not even to Danny. Suddenly, Van Doren came around the corner and snapped, "Spade. My office….NOW."
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Jack was thankful an all-night diner was directly across the street from the car rental office, which didn't open until 7 am. He sat lost in his thoughts downing scalding hot coffee and picking at the #2 sunrise special he'd ordered. It seemed like days since she buried him, but it had only been a little over nine hours. He rubbed his hand over his face and felt the scratch of whisker stubble on his palm, but didn't think twice about it. Finally, he saw movement across the street and someone opening the office. He dropped some cash on the table, gathered his meager belongings and dodged traffic to the other side.
A young lady, who looked to be in her early twenties, smiled brightly behind the counter. Jack noticed her nametag identified her as Cindy – Assistant Manager. "What can I do for you sir?" she asked with a warm smile. Jack tried his best to put on a pleasant face and said, "I need to rent a vehicle for an extended period of time. Probably a month or two." She replied, " We can sure help you with that, sir. What type of vehicle are you looking for? We are running a special on Jeeps right now. With a long-term rental discount, I can probably get you in one of those for about $600 per month." Jack quickly thought about it….Jeep….mountains….remote…and replied, "that would be perfect." "Super!" she said and started tapping away on her computer.
Jack wandered over to a rack with a variety of maps when Cindy asked, "Where will you be staying, sir?" He stiffened slightly and thought to himself he couldn't tell her he would be in hell for quite some time. So he said, "Um…I'm not really too sure right now. Do you know anything about some remote cabins up north? I could use some quiet time away from the city". He smiled as warmly as possible and hoped he was convincing. She regarded him slowly, and then said, "I'm not too familiar with the mountain area, but Jennifer grew up there. Maybe she can help. Let me go get her for you." Cindy went to the back and told Jennifer about the guy up front, describing him as this really dark, rugged and handsome dude looking for some information on cabins in the mountains.
Jennifer jumped at the chance to take a peek at this guy and walked up front with Cindy. After helping him with general information about the area, Cindy asked if he could just call her when he got settled in somewhere. She knew it was totally against policy, but something about his eyes told her this man needed a break. After tapping on the computer some more Cindy said, " Okay, sir, all I need now is a credit card and photo ID." Jack's mind quickly calculated the risk. Knowing all too well how easily a credit card could be traced, he asked, "I will be paying cash up front. Do you still need the credit card?" as he handed her his drivers license.
She suddenly found herself totally lost in his dark eyes that held such incredible sadness but almost a hint of something that could have been taken as fear. She heard herself breaking company policy for the second time in a matter of minutes saying, " Well, I need to record the number, but I won't run it since you are paying cash, Mr. Malone." He smiled his thanks as she handed him the contracts to sign and the keys. He in turn gave her $1,250 in cash, grabbed the maps, and headed out to find a white Jeep in slot 22. Jennifer and Cindy stood looking out the window as Jack drove off the lot. Cindy commented, " It's a shame that a man that handsome seems so lonely." Jennifer quietly nodded her head in agreement.
TBC