A/N: Need to warn you of a little foul language in this chapter...and throughout the story. Sorry for forgetting the warning last chapter.

Chapter 3 – Point Counterpoint

Back at the office, the team was preparing to re-group and get each other up to speed on their respective findings.

As soon as Samantha laid eyes on Martin, her ire from the morning rose again. "By the way, Martin, Mr. Davis was extremely helpful. He had nothing to do with her disappearance and… no…there is nothing more than a employer/employee relationship."

Martin wasn't about to let her attack go un-countered this time. He'd had the last few hours to let his frustration with Samantha build. While still reading a file, he muttered, "Yeah. Well, in my experience, it's rather common for certain types of employees to have something else tawdry going on with their boss. But then, maybe that has just been my experience."

That comment brought an immediate and thick tension to the air. Samantha's jaw dropped open at the bold comment, but she mustered the physical control of her facial expressions before asking Danny, "Any luck finding her brother?"

Danny wished his name hadn't been the one that came to Samantha's mind. But, he answered while looking incredulously at Martin and trying to avoid Jack's seething glare, "Not yet. He wasn't in school today. I called a buddy over at Precinct 323 and he'ssending over some mug shots of the local 'Willies' he is aware of. Once I get those, I'll go back to the school and see if any of Charlie's buddies recognize him. School administration will contact me if Charlie shows up. They say he's been in a few minor scrapes, but nothing serious."

"Her financials are pretty bleak. One checking account with a $900 balance and no loans, credit cards, or taxable property. She's been in the same apartment for the past three years. Pays on time and no problems with utilities."

Jack took over. "Her apartment is neat, sparse, and didn't give us much to go on. The only personal items were pictures of her or Charlie." Tossing a list to Martin, he said, "Those are the only numbers I could find. Looks like a doctor, hair salon and one or two other unknowns."

Martin nodded. "Most of these look familiar. She doesn't own a cell phone. There aren't many leads to chase, but I should have time to get to the doctor's office and hair salon this afternoon. Hopefully, I can pick up something there. Other than that, she has either never been in trouble or she's been crafty enough to never have been caught. I'm talking not even a jaywalking ticket, so the legal end is closed."

Jack listened intently, but his mind was on Martin's blatant comment earlier. Deciding the young agent needed to watch his mouth at work, he said, "Martin, judging by your earlier comment, you sound like you still think Ms. Novak and Mr. Davis were more than just work colleagues."

Letting the comment hit home, he watched Martin swallow hard and fiddle with a file folder. After an abnormally long pause, he continued, "For the record, I think you are wrong, but I would like to see you bring back some evidence to prove me incorrect. Show me the tawdry behavior or never bring it up again. Do you understand?"

Martin felt the "don't fuck with me" tone in Jack's voice hit home. Knowing he'd let his anger cause him to step over the line, Martin could only duck his head and mumble, "Understood." When he looked up again, the bullpen was empty.

-xxxx-

At an abandoned office building near the airport, a skinny kid crawled through a window and made his way upstairs. "Yo Willie! It's me, Grinder!" Entering a large room, the kid met with several men, all of whom had a pistol stuck in their waistband.

Wilkinson answered, "Well if it ain't little Grinder. You smilin' like you went potty all by yourself for the first time, little boy. What's up?" The men laughed heartily as Grinder made his way confidently to Wilkinson.

"You be wantin' to suck my johnson when I tell you the sweet and lowdown on what I know, and show you what I got, Willie." Wilkinson stopped laughing and his face sobered immediately. "You better hope to hell it's something good boy, or I'm gonna make you very sorry you just said that."

Grinder swallowed hard, but stood his ground. Reaching in his pocket, he pulled out a business card and handed it over while flipping open his phone. "This dude came lookin' for you today. He was wantin' to talk to you 'bout her," he said snapping his head to the corner of the room.

Bound and gagged, Jennifer sat huddled in the fetal position. She was terrified. Things had gone very bad very quickly over the last two days.

Climbing into his car, she hugged Willie and chatted about nothing in particular as he made his way through some dirty backstreets in Queens. They were out by the airport in the warehouse district when she asked, "Where are we going?"

"I just got to tend to some business real quick. Won't take more than a few minutes. You stay here and let me check on something, then we'll go get something to eat."

He went into a building that looked abandoned. After a few minutes of waiting, Jennifer went to turn on the radio, but noticed he took he'd takenthe keys. Not thinking twice, she got out and made her way into the warehouse and followed the sound of voices to the back.

"Sorry to bother you Willie, but I wanted the …keys…" She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Willie surrounded by about seven men. There were stacks of wooden crates everywhere. Several of the men were displaying large guns from an open crate. Willie moved quickly to her, grabbing her roughly by the arm. "I told you to stay in the car!"

"Sorry. I just wanted the keys."

One of the men said, "Shit! What are you gonna do about this, Willie? We got too much riding on this deal to lose it to her big mouth."

"Don't worry. I'll take care of this problem" he sneered, glaring hard at Jennifer. He threw her against the table as she threw her hands out to brace herself. He slapped her across the face, busting her lip open with blood spurting on a chair. "You aren't going to blow this for me woman."

"I promise I won't say a thing, Willie. Please don't hurt me!"

"You damn right you aren't going to say anything", he threatened as he grabbed the scarf from her neck and fashioned a crude gag for her mouth. Another man found some rope and they tied her to the chair. "Let's go" he growled, looking at Jennifer like she was something distasteful. "I'll be back to deal with her later."

They all left until late that night, when Willie came back and brought her to this place. She was hungry, thirsty but most of all, she was scared for her life. Now, Charlie's recent behavior finally made sense, and she wondered if he was part of this deal. Charlie had introduced her to Willie several months ago. But recently, he'd been trying to get Jennifer to date someone else. She hoped her brother was smart enough to get away…if he could.

tbc