Chapter 29

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"Listen to this!" Danny shouted from his desk.

Sam cradled the phone near her ear and looked over to where Danny sat. As soon as Jake Miller clued them into where Harry may have taken Martin, Viv came rushing over to tell them where to focus their search.

"What do you have?" Jack asked from the conference table where he and Victor were studying a map of Finger Lakes.

"According to Harry's parole officer, when Harry was released he worked near a campground site. He was part of a crew that was repairing an aqueduct nearby. But get this, I just checked and that site is temporarily closed so the park rangers can clear the brush and rejuvenate the vegetation."

"A closed campsite is a perfect place to hide someone." Viv said aloud.

"That's about a five hour drive." Jack glanced at his watch. "It's almost two. We can take the helicopter and beat him there." He looked around at the team and said, "Danny and Viv, I want you to call ahead and coordinate efforts with the police and park rangers there. Sam, get your gear, you're coming with Victor and me."

Sam nodded her head and turned around to grab her gun from her desk. She glanced over at Viv and Danny who were already on the phone calling the local authorities. She headed down the hall to the locker room to grab her vest and jacket. As she passed Jack's office she saw that Jack was on the phone making arrangements for the bureau chopper to take them to Finger Lakes while Victor and Beth sat on the sofa talking close together. Actually it was Victor who was talking while Beth held his hand and nodded her head as she listened.

Sam continued down the hall and walked into the locker room. She went straight to her locker and pulled out her vest and windbreaker with the ubiquitous 'FBI' written in bright yellow print on the back. The vest felt heavy as she pulled apart the Velcro and put it on. Once she was ready she slammed the door shut. She kept her hand on the cold metal and leaned her forehead against it.

She released a breath knowing that this was it: they were going to find Martin. She could feel it in deep in her gut.

"How did you know they were having an affair?" Martin asked Sam as soon as they walked out of the room where they had just interviewed Marla Rebel about Peter Ducek.

"It was just a gut feeling." Sam replied nonchalant.

"I thought men got feelings in their gut and women had feminine intuition." Martin replied as they walked down the hall towards the elevator.

"That's an incredibly sexiest thing to say. Women can have gut instincts as well as feminine intuition." Sam smiled pointedly at Martin. "It's the 21st century, we can have it all."

"Touche." Martin replied as he tried to keep up with the pace of her walking. "It was just pretty impressive how you were able to call Marla on having an affair with Peter. I don't know who was more surprised, her or me."

Sam tilted her head and softly said, "Yeah, well, I guess you can say I was speaking from experience. I could recognize the signs." He nodded at her solemnly and looked away. Wanting to bring back the levity from earlier, she nudged him with her shoulder, leaned towards him and added, "Besides, I like to keep you guessing on what I'm going to do next."

As they reached the elevator he pressed the button and turned to her grinning, "Oh, believe me you do." He glanced around to make sure no one was listening and whispered, "That little thing you did last night comes to mind."

Sam laughed softly as the elevator doors opened and they boarded. They had to go downstairs so Martin could gather the photos for Marla to review. Once the doors closed and they were alone inside, she moved close to him, pressed her body against his and kissed him hard on the mouth. He responded immediately to the contact as the kiss deepened. Knowing that the elevator was about to stop on their floor she pulled back just in time as the doors opened up. She looked over at Martin who was breathing heavily and leaning against the wall of the elevator.

She gave him a sly smile and said, "This is our stop."

He cleared his throat and replied, "Um, I think I might need to ride around a little longer."

"That's another nice thing about being a woman, we recover quicker." Sam stepped out of the elevator and gestured to the very obvious bulge in Martin's pants as she devilishly added, "It must be so HARD to be a man."

As the doors began to close Martin leaned over so she could only see his head as he shouted, "Now that was an incredibly sexist thing to say!"

Sam blew out a breath as the picture of Martin's smiling face appeared in her head. She didn't know how much she missed seeing him smile at her like that until it was too late. When she finds him she was going to make sure that he knew how important he was to her and hopefully get him to smile at her like that again.

She headed out of the locker room and met Victor and Jack at the elevator just as the doors slid open so they all boarded. Sam glanced at Jack who looked at her determinedly as the air in the tiny compartment crackled with frenetic energy at knowing that now they had a solid lead. Victor just stared at the doors and seemed lost in his own thoughts. Sam glanced at his hands and saw that they were clenched into fists.

It felt like the elevator was moving at a snail's pace so she mentally willed it to speed up. She felt an anxious excitement at the prospect that they not only may have found Martin but there was a strong possibility that they would beat Harry back.

They boarded the helicopter a short while later and were on their way to Finger Lakes and, hopefully, Martin.