Thanks for the reviews anmodo, jtsideout389, and Remote Control Princess! I'm so glad you like this fic!

OK, OK...so I get a little out of character with Samantha at the end of this chapter. But I have a secret firefighter fantasy crush that I just assumed someone like Samantha would share!

The hardest thing in life is to know which bridge to cross and which to burn. – David Russell

Chapter Four - Family Ties

Engine 6, Greenwich Village - Seventeen Hours Missing

"I love firefighters." Sam said as she and Martin approached the Engine 6 firehouse in downtown Manhattan. "Have I ever told you that? About how much I love firefighters?"

Martin smirked. "I'm sure they love you, too."

She flashed a grin at him as they turned into the engine bay. A young firefighter, probably a rookie, looked up from where he was hosing down the fire truck. "Hi." he said, obviously not used to a beautiful woman walking into his house.

Samantha flashed her badge. "I'm Special Agent Samantha Spade and this is Agent Martin Fitzgerald. We're here to see Bobby McNamara."

The young firefighter shook his head with a smile and said, "Of course you are. All the ladies come here looking for Mac." He called back over his shoulder into the depths of the fire house. "Mac! Hey Mac!"

From around the back of the fire engine, another firefighter emerged with a big smile on his face. Samantha remembered that smile, though she had not seen it too often during his sister's ordeal. "Chill out, probie. I'm right here...the house isn't that big." he said.

"You've got company, Cap. F.B.I."

Bobby McNamara turned his sexy smile on Samantha and gave her a not so subtle once over with his eyes. Normally, that would tick her off. But somehow, with this guy, she didn't mind so much. Martin, on the other hand, minded her not minding. Sam and Martin flashed their badges and introduced themselves again. Bobby extended his hand and caught Sam's in his strong grip. "Captain Bobby McNamara, Engine 6. What can I do for you, agents?"

Sam quickly switched over to business mode and said, "We need to ask you a few questions about Frank Runyeon."

The smile disappeared from Bobby's face and he pulled his hand away from shaking Martin's. "Why?"

"He's missing." Martin stated and Bobby glared at him.

"And so next you're going to tell me why I should care?" Bobby turned to the probie, who was listening in with interest, and said, "Mike, can you give us a minute?" The other firefighter nodded and walked out through a door in the back of the fire house.

"Once you were almost arrested for threatening him.During your sister's rape trial..." Samantha began, but was cut off by Bobby's angry words.

"Eight years ago that bastard stabbed and raped my sister, then left her for dead." Bobby said through clenched teeth. Sarcastically, he continued, "I was a little upset."

Knowing a volatile situation when they were in the middle of one, Sam and Martin exchanged looks with each other. Carefully, Samantha tried again. "His car was found on the Brooklyn side of the Verazzano Bridge. With Runyeon's blood inside."

"Brooklyn's a big place, Agent Spade. A lot of people live there. And I'm sure that bastard pissed off someone besides me." Bobby replied. Then added, with a veiled threat in his voice, "Or anyone else in my family."

"Captain McNamara, if you could just tell us if you and Mr. Runyeon have had any recent contact..." Martin began asking.

Bobby shook his head in disbelief. "I can't believe this." He looked again at Sam and a spark of recognition flashed in his eyes. "I know you. You were the detective on the case when Katie was raped." Sam nodded and Bobby looked her dead in the eye. "You know what he did to her. And what that did to our whole family. We watched her pull farther and farther away from us, into this darkness, and there wasn't a damn thing we could do about it! We had to sit there and do nothing! Because, as you so adamantly told me, if we went out and did something stupid we could jeopardize her case!" Bobby was yelling now and when he realized that, he lowered his voice. "She's my sister. The only one I've got. It's my job...my God given right...as her brother to protect her. And if we couldn't protect her, we should have at least been able to beat the shit out of the bastard that did that to her. But, we couldn't. All we could do was sit around and wait for the courts to punish him. And instead they let him go." Bobby turned and began to walk away from them, but turned back when he had calmed down. "They let him go. Let him walk right back into his life as if nothing ever happened. My sister was broken, the world as she knew it was destroyed, and no one ever paid for that. Do you know what it was like for us to look into her eyes and see no trace of the girl we once knew? He stole her soul and ruined her life." Bobby's voice began to break and he raked his hands through his hair to avoid the tears he could feel coming to his eyes. "She was sad and scared all the time. And I didn't know how to help."

"Something like that," Martin began, "might make you want to take matters into your own hands. Get your own justice."

"You're damn right." Bobby practically snarled at Martin, who visibly stepped back. "But I didn't. None of us did. And you want to know why? Because Katie asked us not to. She told us that she needed us around to help her remember that there are good men out there and that monsters like Frank Runyeon are the minority. She told us that no matter how bad it was for her, the only thing that could possibly be worse would be to have to go through it without one of us around because we did something stupid." Bobby laughed a bitter laugh. "She said she wouldn't come see us in prison. So we left him alone. Even though we hated every minute of it, we left him alone. We left him alone then and we're still leaving him alone now. Because Katie asked us to. And we wouldn't ever do anything to cause her more pain." Gaining a tighter control on his emotions, Bobby continued, "She got through it, you know. She's amazing that way. Somehow she found the strength to put it behind her. And the rest of us just followed her lead. Frank Runyeon is part of the past...a past we don't talk about anymore. I don't know anything about his disappearance, but I'm sure as hell not going to shed any tears over the fact that he's missing."

"So, if we ask your brothers these questions they will give us the same answer?" Martin asked quietly.

"Not word for word, but close enough. Because it's the truth. It's an ugly truth, but everything about the whole mess was ugly. Joey and Eddie will tell you the same thing." Bobby eyed Martin, then said, "I'd watch out for Eddie though. He's the mean one. You say Frank Runyeon's name around him...duck. 'Cause he'll knock you on your ass before you ever knew what hit you." Bobby seemed to like having a little fun at Martin's expense. But his voice grew quiet as he turned to Samantha. "Danny and Charlie won't be any help to you, though. They didn't make it home from Ground Zero." Bobby said, the previous emotion he displayed now gone from his face and voice.

"I'm sorry." Samantha said, meaning it. "I have just one more question, Captain McNamara, and then we'll get out of your way. Where you were last night around eight o'clock?"

"Still don't believe me, do you?" Bobby asked, then said, "I was on duty last night. Here at the house. We're short staffed lately so I pulled a double tour. Ask any of the guys."

Not able to resist the urge to flirt with the sexy firefighter who seemed to have a heart of gold under his tough, muscled exterior, Sam teased, "Oh, you mean the firefighters back there who put their lives in your hands everyday and would die for you if need be? Those guys?"

Bobby broke into a smile. "Yeah, those guys. Go ahead, ask them. I'm sure they're looking forward to answering any question you've got."