Disclaimer: Don't own the characters. Not making money off of them

Rating: K+ (Genfic, just a little of violence).

What is it about? A kid is missing, some strange things happened all around and the team have to find out what, why and who is behind all of the...'twisted facts' in the case.

Characters: All of them, well, lets think a little... Oh! I forgot somebody... well, guess you all know who...

Part 4

40 HOURS MISSING

The office...

Jack looked up tiredly from his desk as Viv appeared at his door.

"Jack, those two companies belong to the same person, James Coltwell. These are all the buildings that belong to him or the companies."

Vivian laid a file on Jack's desk and took a seat across the desk from him. She rubbed her eyes with her hand and watched as he opened the file and scanned the documents.

"Coltwell, not your typical Chinese name." Jack muttered as he stifled a yawn. Looking at the clock he realized it was going onto midnight.

"Vivian, go home, get a few hours of sleep, see Reggie off to school, have breafast with Marcus, then be back at 7:00 a.m.."

Vivian sighed and nodded. She didn't want to leave knowing Martin was out there somewhere, maybe hurt, maybe dead. But she knew that if the whole team worked themselves to exhaustion they would be no good to anyone. She paused as she got to the door.

"Sam is with Mac working on the phone call from the kidnapper. He used a cell phone. Oh and Jack, one more thing. These companies are supposed to be bringing shoes and clothes from China,.." Jack waited as her voice trailed off. Vivian thought carefully for another moment and then finished her thought, "I'm not sure that's true. I'll sleep on it and see if I can make sense of it. Something in those files and in the financials of the companies I've been looking at makes me positive there's more to those companies than shoes and clothes."

Jack nodded and rose to see what progress Mac and Sam had made.

He entered Mac's office as he was explaining how to locate the origin of the call.

"I've been able to locate the cell which manages, or channels, the area this call came from."

Jack perked up as he heard that progress had been made.

"So, how big is the area?" Sam was standing in front of a grid map of the city and watched as Mac silently got up and used a highlighter to outline the area.

"That big?" She tried to keep the frustration out of her voice, but she was tired and she was worried.

"Well, it was bigger until I narrowed it down. I had to start with the phone records from the house, then contacted the phone companies..."

"It's good work Mac." Jack said from behind them. They both jumped, they hadn't known he was standing there.

A small smile pulled at the corner of Jack's mouth as he watched their reaction. "How quickly can you cross-reference this area with the addresses Viv got regarding all of the business locations?" He gave the file Vivian had just given him, to Sam. Sam and Mac exchanged a look and turned back to the map and the computer. "We're on it now. Give us an hour and we'll let you know how far along we are."

"Jack, there's something else." Sam spoke up as he started to leave the room. He stopped and turned to face her, she looked as exhausted as he felt, but her eyes were still a brilliant blue. "Back one year ago, there were a lot of phone calls from Hoskins to Florida. Those calls suddenly stopped last month. I'm hoping to find that phone number here in Vivian's file."

Jack left the two of them working on it and walked slowly to the bullpen. He stopped and stood at Martin's desk. He took in the neat desk, everything had a place; everything was in its place. A small, sad smile flitted across his face as he pulled out the chair and sat down. Thoughtfully he swung slowly around in the chair and his eyes fell upon Danny's desk. He had sent Danny home barely an hour previous. He knew no one was going to sleep well, but they all needed a little break. A little time to shower, sleep, or lay down, in their bed, have coffee in their own kitchen. Perhaps tomorrow, wait, this morning, he wryly corrected himself as he looked at his watch, Danny and Vivian would have a little fresher perspective.

Danny had been frustrated when he left. His return to the Hoskins residence hadn't netted much in the way of leads. Jack closed his eyes and thought back on the coversation...

"Nothing." One word, spoken in a clipped, terse tone. "Nothing." Danny almost spit the word out of his mouth.

Jack looked up from the papers on his desk to see Danny impatiently standing outside his door. He tilted his head, inviting Danny in.

"I didn't see anything rare or valuable anywhere in the house. Of course, I didn't expect them to have a priceless Ming vase with a sign on it, saying contraband, but..." His voice trailed off and he leaned forward, letting his elbows rest on his knees. "The only things I noticed were a couple books on shelves were missing, and a few pictures that were hanging in the study have been replaced. Mac is going to try and enhance the photos when he gets done with the cell phone tracking."

"Alright Danny. Mac and Sam are going to be awhile working on the phone records and the building locations. Go home." He raised his hand as Danny's head snapped up and his mouth started to open in protest. "Now." Jack's voice was stern and the resolute look in his eyes allowed no argument. He saw the fear in Danny's eyes and softened his tone. "I'm worried too; but all of us being exhausted are only going to make things worse, not only for Martin but for Brian as well. Get a shower, grab a few hours of rest, then come back in here by 7:00 a.m. sharp."

Resignedly Danny nodded and rose. Silently he walked out of the office and headed home...

PRESENT...

Jack pushed away from Martin's desk and made his way back to his office. His phone started to ring as he entered, crossing to his desk he grabbed the phone. "Malone"

"Agent Malone, I need you on the fifth floor immediately. I have people in the hall waiting for you."

VanDoren. This couldn't be good Jack thought.

"On my way." He replaced the phone and started for the elevators, once again wondering why he didn't just take that job in Chicago all those years ago. No more supervisory headaches, no more losing sleep worrying about the men and women under his command, nor more political crap.

On the fifth floor he saw VanDoren with four other agents. "Jack Malone, this is Agent Robert Collins, Florida, Agent Louis Garland and Sam Trenton, Chicago, and Agent Bert Nichols, D.C. Why don't we all sit down and talk." It sounded like a suggestion but everyone knew that Director VanDoren didn't offer suggestions, she offered orders. They all followed her into the nearby conference room.

Jack sat down feeling a familiar sensation in his stomach. His gut instinct told him that this case was about to become a lot more complicated than it already was and as he looked at the men in the room and then VanDoren, who stared him directly in the eye, he realized that Martin's life was no longer in his hands. That thought scared him; and Jack Malone did not get scared often.

Nichols started first; "We have been after Coltwell for three years now. We have an undercover agent in his operation and there is a deal going down very soon. Our source says likely within the next 72 hours at the most."

"I have a four-year old boy, taken from his home almost two days ago, and an FBI agent snatched from the very same place just hours after the child. Why am I only hearing about this operation now!" Jack could feel his blood simmering and both his words and his glare were directed at VanDoren, the other men were not even present in the room as far as he was concerned.

Nichols had his own agenda and his voice rose to match Jack's. "We can't let you blow the entire operation because of this kid! We managed to get your agent in there to keep the kid safe."

The silence that settled on the room was far from soothing, in fact every person in the room seemed to freeze in horror at this revelation, and no one appeared to be breathing. Then the eruption began...

"You got my agent into this! Who the hell do you think you are! No one puts my agents in harms way!" Jack didn't care if this was insubordination or not, his words were only directed at VanDoren. He didn't think about the fact that his career may be over, that a formal reprimand may be in his file for how he was speaking to VanDoren. All he knew was that HIS team, HIS agents, were being used.

"Do you know where they are?" Jack ground the words out between gritted teeth.

Nichols knew he was doomed in Malone's eyes, but he didn't care. He had a job to do and that was to get Coltwell, he went on calmly as if talking about inanimate objects rather than people. "We're not quite sure now. Our agent couldn't see them yet, it is too risky for his cover to contact your agent."

"So what do you want from me? You want all my team to risk their lives too? You have my agent in there, you don't even know if he is still alive, you don't know if the boy is alive. What do you want? Do you want me to just sit back and do nothing for the next 72 hours?"

"Yes."

Up until now VanDoren had let Jack and Agent Nichols do all the talking, but now it was time to stake her claim.

Agent Garland spoke up. "We don't want you to stop looking around, that would make them suspicious. But you have to slow down, go in the wrong direction."

Jack shook his head disgustedly at the man. "My people aren't who you are used to working with. They aren't stupid." Garland bristled at the insult and VanDoren started to open her mouth to speak but Jack continued. "My team will need to know what this is all about, and I want to know that Agent Fitzgerald (and he emphasized the last name--he had no problem using Martin's D.C. connections even if Martin hated having them dragged into the open, Martin's life was more important than his independence right now) and the boy are alright."

"You can tell them, we'll find out where they are being held and let you know that they are alright." VanDoren's voice spoke quietly from the other end of the table.

"Gee thanks." Jack didn't bother to hide the sarcasm in his voice. "Do I get to know what this is all about or what?"

Agent Collins spoke up at that point. "This started in Florida as a drug dealing case. We think the drugs come in from Columbia but we're not sure. They get smuggled into the country through Florida. The drugs move to Chicago and from there are spread all over the country. Street kids are used to move it on the streets in the big cities. It has taken us two years of investigating, two years of working a man deep undercover and getting him close to the top of the organization.

Jack was surprised, he figured it was complicated, but why entangle another FBI agent when they already had one undercover. "If you know all that, why are they still there?" As soon as he asked the question he felt the tension edge up a notch in the room.

"We want to know how they get the drugs into the country. There's no visible connection between Coltwell and somebody on the outside but we know it exhists. The operation that is about to go down is huge, it's the largest shipment they have ever made, we are certain we will be able to take down the head of the organization this time."

"So why Brian?"

"Peter Hoskins is their chemist. He cuts the drugs before they are distributed across the country. He's been wanting more money, by taking his son, they ensure he concentrates on his job, not on fattening his nest egg."

"So why is Martin there? They know he is an FBI agent." Jack wanted to punch these smug men in the nose. Martin was in jeopardy because of their operation.

"Fitzgerald is there to look after the boy." Collins coldly answered.

"And if they decide Martin is more valuable they'll kill the child."

"No, they need the boy to keep his father in line. Our inside man convinced them that by having an agent as well it would keep the FBI off their trail."

"Then these guys are the dumbest dealers ever to walk the face of the earth." Jack wasn't shouting now, his voice was low, his eyes narrowed and deadly. "First, having an agent only bring more heat, second, we don't negotiate for the lives of our agents, that is a very well known fact. You all have signed his death sentence." Jack stood up and walked to the door, all but throwing his chair out of his way in his anger and disgust.

As he reached for the door knob he turned back to all of them, "You don't know where Martin and the boy are, you don't know when or where the shipment is going to be made, you don't know who the head of the organization is...Just what do you know?"

As he walked out the door he could hear Nichols yelling after him, "We're not finished! You don't start until we tell you."

Jack wasn't listening anymore. His team was in danger, he needed to get them to safety.

TBC