Title: Good People Gone Bad
Summary: second part of the Michael Fitzgerald/Nicole Malone series. Jack got custody of the girls, and Nicole got custody of Mike Fitzgerald's heart. Will Michael and Nicole's relationship advance, or will someone make sure that it stops?
Disclaimer: I own none of the Without a Trace Characters, but I do own Nicole Malone and Michael Fitzgerald, and should I end up creating more characters, I will own them also.
A/N: as with many of my other stories, I'm making a lot of things up as I go along. I'm a high school student with very little money. Please don't sue.
A/N: There was a part of the last chapter, towards the end, where I was talking about Nicole getting hurt and I said could, when I really meant couldn't. sorry.
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Male, big, tall, deep voice that I would never forget. As the hours ticked by, I tried to keep my mind working. Most people that end up getting killed in my situation die because they don't keep a level head. Begging and pleading is going to get you no where. You need to fight fire with fire: Let him be crazy, but give him your own level of crazy and confuse him. Things at the office were also getting pretty crazy. Everyone on the team had been working non-stop since everything went down. Dad and Michael were trying their very best to keep it together for team moral, but it was growing increasingly difficult.
"Do we have anything yet, Sam?"
"The girls not only were in a few of the same classes, but one or both of their parents either worked for the FBI or for the NYPD. I went through the files trying to look for anything similar."
"And?"
"The McManton case."
Sam puts a file in the middle of the table, letting everyone wonder what she's talking about.
"The McManton case? What's that?"
"About a year and a half, two years ago, a few of us worked this case. A young woman in her early twenties had disappeared, Julian McManton. He husband had called it in, and at the time, the evidence pointed to the husband, Anthony. He was a doctor and knew how to give his wife the drugs to knock her out, which we found in her blood. Danny and Viv brought him in here, asked some questions. Anyway, this guy freaked out, said that we were trying to pin his wife's disappearance on him, blah, blah, blah."
"Melissa's mom and Jacqueline's dad were both agents at the time, and helped Jack, Danny, and I on the case: Doing surveillance, gathering evidence, interviewing witnesses, basic things like that. Andrea's parents, both mother and father, worked for the NYPD and had rounded up the suspects, and eventually, were the ones that arrested Anthony McManton."
"That's the link. I know who's doing it."
Mike says, causing everyone to look at him like he's insane. His eyes are wide with a mix of excitement for getting me back, and anger at the person who took me in the first place. While he spoke, his mind was elsewhere, planning what he would do to my kidnapper as soon as I was found.
"This guy, Anthony, was really upset that you were looking at him as a possible suspect?"
"Upset would be an understatement, but yes."
"Maybe he's doing it as payback."
"Mike, we're not in third grade anymore. Payback doesn't really happen much anymore."
Michael stands up, wanting to go after Anthony, but needing to finish the investigation portion of the case first.
"Think about it, Martin. All of the evidence lines up. He's a doctor, which means he would know what chemical to use to get Nicole to pass out with that cloth that we found in the alley. You said it yourself that all of these girls' parents had worked on his case."
"How are we going to prove it?"
"Start talking to his family and friends, see if maybe they know."
"All right people, you heard the man. Let's find his relatives and start asking some questions."
Tick, tock, tick, tock. It was getting harder and harder for me to remain calm. The man had left short after the last conversation, and had turned the lights out after he left. The room I was in was pitch black, and smelled of dust and mildew. The nauseating feeling in the pit of my stomach was getting worse as the clock behind me ticked and ticked. I had no idea how much time I had left, but my instincts were usually right, and my instincts were telling me that I didn't have very long. I hear the big door open, and feel the presence of someone else joining me in the room.
"Miss Malone, I'm back. It's time to make a little tape to send home to the desperate agents. They still don't have a clue where you are, and I have a feeling that this tape is going to be what pushes some of them over the edge."
