Hello! Just back from bella Italia…sun, sea, sights…amazing…ok without further ado Chapter 6….also again THANK YOU a thousand times for all your reviews!

Chapter 6

July 2004

The return flight from Washington to New York had been pretty much silent, as both men digested the information given, however unwillingly by an obviously emotionally by Victor Fitzgerald.

For once in his life, Jack Malone was stumped.

Why when he knew this information could be important to finding his son had Victor Fitzgerald kept it from them? Or had he pulled some strings elsewhere, had he other agents, more senior than his missing persons unit out there looking foe him?

Jack Malone was good at figuring people out, it was one of the things he did best. He had always known that Victor and Martin had problems and he knew there was more to them than met the eye, but no matter how much he thought he knew about either of these men, there seemed to be so much that no-one knew.

What mattered now though was that they had a name and they had information to go on. He'd already called Viv and asked her to start looking for a full case history and last know address for Stan Jameson, saying that he would explain everything else when they got back.

Looking over at the younger agent seated on the seat across from him, Jack couldn't help giving a wry smile. Danny was angry, really, really angry. He could tell both by his silence and the way he played with the ring on the middle finger of his left hand, twisting it around and around that he was trying to process the information, trying to make sense of the last couple of hours.

Back around the conference table in the Bullpen that evening, a very tired Jack Malone gave and equally weary Sam and Viv a summary of Victors tale and although he'd made it as concise and matter of fact as possible, the image of that 5 year old boy all alone in the cellar stuck in all their minds. Vivian and Jack were parents, and he knew they were both thinking the same thing, what if it were Hannah or Reggie….what if…

In the short silence that followed Danny stood up started pacing the room yet again, his anger threatening to get the better of him.

Jack glanced over at Sam, the dark circles under her eyes betrayed more than just a lack of sleep. He wondered if she'd known anything, if during that brief relationship he'd opened up about his mother or his stepmother, but from the look on her face, he knew that hadn't happened. Just like everyone else, it was kept a secret, a well hidden, well covered up secret.

"Why didn't Victor tell us before now?" Danny Taylor couldn't help the anger in his voice.

Jack sighed and scrubbed his hand over his face. "I've been thinking the same thing, but you know there could be any number of reasons, maybe he already has other people looking for Jameson, he has contacts in places that we could never touch."

Jack paused, as if searching for other explanations. "Maybe…maybe he didn't think that Jameson would come back to Martin, not after all these years. I mean, we don't even know if that's what happened, we're just assuming at the moment, maybe Stan Jameson moved to Iowa and married his childhood sweetheart, for all we know he could be pumping Gas somewhere in Alaska this last couple of months.

"That's bullshit Jack and you know it." Danny was angry; angry at himself for not following his instinct when he knew something was wrong with Martin this last while and also angry because he realized that Martin had found out about Jameson and hadn't told him. Betrayed, betrayed by his partners lack of trust.

"Martin knew." Danny almost blurted the words out. "He knew about Jameson, I just know he did, and he never said a damned thing to anyone."

"Maybe he did" Jack conceded, "But number 1, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, Martin's as stubborn as his old man sometimes and number 2, I guess he thought he could fight his own battles, I guess he just didn't want any more attention for what he saw as all the wrong reasons.

"He thought he could handle it alone." Sam's voice was thoughtful. "Let's face it he has a slight record of getting himself into trouble around here."

"Alright." Jack stood up and looked at them. "We have Jameson's last know address, as well as his father's address and the name of his last known girlfriend. As we can see from the files, he wasn't the only once involved in the kidnapping".

Jack scanned the file in his hand….. "Antonio Marquis is the other guy involved and he's still inside. His parole was revoked, something to do with slitting some poor guy's throat with a piece of glass in the exercise yard one day."

"Nice man" Vivian murmured, "I guess I'll go see Antonio?"

Jack nodded. "Bring Danny with you. Sam, can you check out the girlfriend, just in case, and I'll visit Pops. There's an ABP out on Jameson as we speak, but I've told them only to report sightings directly to me and not to approach him under any circumstances. We have to play this carefully until we get some more information.

"And Victor?" asked Vivian cautiously.

Jack signed heavily. "He's fully contactable should we require any additional information." Jack didn't bother to hide the heavy sarcasm in his voice.

"He's a fully contactable a-hole." Danny Taylor murmered to Sam as they left the office.

Once the other's left Jack sat down and dialled the number that he'd bribed Victor Fitzgeralds secretary to pass on to him. The phone rang once, twice, three times before being answered.

"Mrs Fitzgerald?" he began? "It's Jack Malone, Martin's boss, I'm sorry to not have any more information on your son's dissapearance, but I really would like to speak to you about something, if possible….."