First an important thing: the disclaimer, which I forgot! It's obvious I don't own these characters, or Las Vegas, etc.

Still Somewhere

Sam looked around the room frantically.

Wow, this is bad...

She looked at the bed, the roses on the floor, her pictures all over the walls. Secretly taken in the casino, she could tell.

"Okay I'm getting out of here," she said out loud and angrily walked towards the door. She banged on it with her fists.

"Hey! Let me out!" she put her ear against the door to see if she could hear anyone.

"Hey!" she yelled.

Footsteps approaching. A key in the lock. Key being turned. Handle pointing downwards.

Sam stepped away from the door to allow it to open. She raised an eyebrow, waited for the door to be opened wide enough for her to force her way past the man that opened it and paced through the hall. At the end of the hall were stairs, and to Sam's discontent her former client was waiting at the end. Holding one hand in the air, as to shut him up before he could speak, Sam continued to pace down the stairs. Right before him she stood still and looked up to him, before slapping him in the face.

"You are so getting me a ride back to the Montecito!" she yelled at him.

"Sam, I will not do that."

His laughter made Sam even more furious.

"You're not giving me a ride?"

"No! No way!" he said as though she had asked him to jump off a bridge.

"Fine. Give me my cell phone so I can get someone to pick me up."

Sam, one hand on her hip, the other palm up, was outraged. The man walked towards her and instead of her cell phone, laid his hand on hers. Sam immediately pulled it back.

"Come on honey, there is a little supper waiting for us. And guess what? I'll cut you a deal."

"Supper? I thought it was 7.30am just an hour ago."

"You've been sleeping, angel."

No reaction from Sam except for a look of disgust.

"Don't want to know what the deal is?" he was visibly enjoying this game.

"Cut it out! I'm not a kid, just tell me the deal before I'm out of here."

"Oh, Sam," he sighed, "you are so sexy when you're mad! I love it!"

"Hey!" Sam crossed her arms in front of her body, "You've got one more second!"

"Okay, okay, easy Sam, easy baby."

"Don't call me Sam, I'm not your friend, and don't call me baby," Sam spat.

"Right. So where were we?"

"The deal," Sam replied with a bored look.

"Of course! The deal is: you have dinner with me, I'll get you a ride back to the Montecito afterwards, if you're nice to me," he winked at the last words.

"And I get my cell phone back," Sam demanded.

"And you'll get your cell phone back," the client repeated.

Sam sighed, then put her hands up, surrendering.

The man gestured for her to go through a door behind him.

"And don't even think about that sort of kindness," Sam snapped at him as she walked pass him towards the open door.

Ed's Office

"Ed, she's been gone all day," Danny was getting desperate.

"I know, kid, I know," Ed leaned against his desk, his arms crossed, staring into the control room.

"So there is no news at all? No phone calls, no ransom letters, nothing?"

"I'm sorry, Danny. We're doing all we can."

"But, Ed, what if he hurts her?"

"Danny..."

"Yeah, I know. But I feel responsible here. I was supposed to watch her but I...I overslept!" Danny said, making a desparate gesture with his hands.

Ed was thinking. He had checked the license plate number, got the driver's name and address from the limo company he works for, and his guys were still looking for him because the bastard wasn't home when he came over. Nothing in his car, nothing in his apartment either. He even tried to trace Sam's cell. That had not been very successful though. He hadn't been able to get a signal. Someone must have smashed it.

"Anything yet?" Mary Connell mounted the stairs to Ed's office. She looked worried.

"We're doing all we can, Mare," Danny pulled her into a hug.

"I know...I just feel so scared for Sam, I mean, we've been talking about this guy since he arrived, she told me he was bugging her. Maybe I should have done something, I don't know."

Suddenly Ed's phone rang. He turned sharply and reached for it. Mary and Danny both intently looked at his face to see if they could tell anything from his expression.

"Ed."

"---"

"Okay, good job. We'll be right over."

Ed hung up and paced towards the stairs.

"Danny, come with me. Mary, they traced the driver."

Danny quickly kissed Mary on her forehead and followed Ed downstairs. Mary watched the men disappear and sighed.

Please let Sam be okay...

Luxurious Restaurant down the Strip

Ed and Danny sat down at the table, across the guy that appeared to be Sam's driver.

"So, tell me about what happened this morning," Ed started the conversation.

"Well, this morning," a wide smile appeared on the driever's face, "I got rich enough to pay for dinner in this fancy restaurant. And much more," he added with a grin.

"Are you aware that the woman you gave a ride is now a missing person?" Danny was annoyed by the guy in front of him.

"Is she? Well, I'm horribly sorry for that. What does that have to do with me?" the man's expression hardly changed.

"What does that have to do with..." Danny wanted to get up from his chair and beat the crap out of this guy, but Ed restrained him from doing so.

"Look, we just want to know where you drove her to," Ed leaned forward.

"I'm sorry," the driver sat back in his chair, "he said I couldn't tell anyone."

"Who said you couldn't tell anyone?"

"The rich guy."

Ed held up a picture of Sam's client.

"Is this the guy?"

Nervously the driver looked round, then he bended towards Ed.

"Yeah. He is. And you can't tell anyone I told you, but I took her to this large house in the desert. You know that house?"

Without answering Ed and Danny jumped up and made off towards the exit.