Chapter 4

Jack heard Sue's scream and turned around in time to see her struggling with two men. Running down the street, he pulled out his gun.

"Stop…FBI," he yelled, quickly regretting his lack of cover on the street when one of the men turned and aimed a gun in his direction. Jumping into an open doorway, Jack barely dodged the bullet ricocheting off the wall by his head. Peering around the corner, Jack realized he couldn't return fire as long as they had Sue, but he had to do something. Pulling back into the doorway, he saw D coming up the other side of the street, gun drawn. Maybe if they could distract the men somehow, Sue could get away.

Hearing one of the men bellow in pain, Jack looked back around the corner. Levi was jumping on one of the men, pushing him into the car. Just then, he saw Sue swing her purse around connecting with the head of the man who held her. For the first time, Jack saw the girl.

His mouth almost dropped open in shock when he saw her slam her foot into the other man's shin. However, he immediately regained his composure when he realized the men had released them and Sue was pulling the girl away, calling for Levi. Raising his gun, he fired over the men's head hoping it would stop them from following Sue.

"Leave 'em," the one said, pulling the other to the car. "We'll get her later." They jumped into the car and quickly tore down the street. Jack stepped out of the doorway and aiming at the tires, he fired. The speed they were coming towards him caused him to miss and he had to jump out of the way as they swerved to hit him. Rolling out of the way, he heard D continuing to fire at the fast moving car, but regained his footing in time to see the car tear around the corner and disappear.

Turning back, Jack raced over the Sue and Levi. Sue had her arms around the girl, both of them shaking. Kneeling beside them, Jack touched Sue's shoulder. O-K-YOU, he signed, the concern evident on his face when he saw the fear in her eyes. Sue nodded stiffly and pulled back to look at the girl, asking her the same thing. She responded affirmatively, and then saw Jack standing there, the panic returning as she buried her face back into Sue's shoulder.

"It's okay," Sue assured, holding the girl tight. "This is my friend, Jack…and over there is D," she pointed out, when she saw D run up behind Jack. "We work together."

"A-at the F.B.I." the girl asked, peeking out at Jack still unsure. Since her face was still tightly against Sue's shoulder, Sue couldn't see what she was saying but felt the low rumble of her voice. Sue looked at Jack expectantly, reading his lips as he replied, "Yes, sweetheart, at the F.B.I."

The girl pulled herself out of Sue's arms slightly, still hesitant, "Those men tried to hurt us."

"Yeah, but they're gone now," D said, kneeling down beside the others. "You're one tough little girl."

Releasing Sue, she stood with her hands on her hips, defiantly saying, "I'm not a little girl!"

Ignoring Jack's smirk and raised eyebrows, D quickly replied, "No, I'm sorry. I can see that now."

Satisfied she'd made her point, she turned back to Sue and asked, "Who were those men, Sue?"

"I don't know, Tina," Sue told her, stealing a glance at Jack. Catching her look and realizing he still had his hand on her shoulder, Jack stood up and stepped away nervously.

"Um, D, did you catch the tag number," he stammered. D stood up also, shaking his head no. Turning to Sue, he asked, "What about you? Did you get a good look at the men in the car," Jack asked, his F.B.I. training taking over.

"Yeah, I don't think I'll get those faces out of my mind soon," Sue replied, as D offered her a hand to help her up of the ground.

"We need to get you back to the office and see about doing a sketch," D said, confidently. "Maybe Tara can use the picture to find out who they were."

"Jordan knows who they were," Tina boasted, causing D and Jack to turn back to her in surprise. Seeing them turn in Tina's direction, Sue followed their gaze in time to see her say, "I saw her with them. They scared me, but Jordan said they were friends of hers. I don't like them."

The three adults looked hopefully at each other, Sue saying, "Tina came here yesterday looking for her friend, Jordan, but saw her drive off with a man."

Pulling a picture out of his pocket, Jack asked, "Is this Jordan?" All of them held their breath as Tina took the picture.

"Yes," she said, looking from Jack to D to Sue. "Do you know Jordan too?" she asked anxiously.

"We're looking for her too." Sue told her, moving beside Jack so she could see his face. "Tina told me she saw Jordan leave with a man yesterday and she didn't come back."

Jack shot a worried look back at D. Could the men today have something to do with Jordan's disappearance? Jack wondered. Tina may have seen something she wasn't supposed to, but why would they risk taking her with Sue standing right there?

Giving Sue and Tina what he hoped was a reassuring smile, Jack asked, "How would you like coming with us? We can take you home. I'm sure your mom is worried by now."

"My mommy is in heaven," Tina whispered sadly, looking down at the ground before turning to look at Sue. "I'm not going back to Ms. Roberts' house. She doesn't like me. She's mean." Shuffling her feet, she said, "I wanted to live with Jordan, but I did something wrong. She left and didn't come back."

With a quick concerned glance at Jack, Sue placed her hand on Tina's back leading her to their car. "Well, I'm sure Jordan will be back. You didn't do anything wrong. She just had something come up but she'll be back in a few days."

"Until then, we'll find somewhere else you can stay, but we need to call Ms. Roberts and let her know where you are at." Jack said falling into step beside them. At the girl's request and Sue's agreement, Jack opened the back door for them to get in. After Tina got in and Levi jumped in after her, Jack touched Sue's arm to get her attention before she sat down.

"You did really good back there," Jack admitted. "Looks like the self-defense classes are paying off."

With a twinkle in her eye, Sue smiled, "Yeah, just remember that next time you sneak up on me. Wouldn't want you go get hurt now, would we, Sparky!" With a wink to D over the top of the car, Sue settled into the back seat with the others.

D laughed at Jack's shocked expression, "It looks like this might just be a kidnapping after all."

"All this is just too much of a coincidence," Jack agreed, shaking his head slightly and still grinning at Sue's comments.

"Hopefully, the others will have something when we get back." D replied, opening the door. As they got in and drove off, neither noticed the dark sedan pull slowly into traffic behind them.