'Dead?'

Jack and Danny stared at each other for a second before looking back at Holland; he was sitting bent forward, his elbows on the table holding his head in his hands. He looked up at them and they could see tears in his eyes;

'Yes……that bastard Brown shot him'

'You were there?' Jack made the question sound more like a statement and Holland nodded, seemingly unable to speak.

Danny and Jack glanced at each other again; 'I think you had better tell us about it don't you'; the coldness in Jack's voice caused Holland's head to jerk up and he made a visible effort to pull himself together.

'I got a message yesterday around 2pm to tell me to be ready to be picked up because there was a meeting I needed to be at. When the car arrived I went to get in it and that's the last thing I remember until I was woken up somewhere near La Guardia', he paused, struggling to get the next part of his story out

'We were in a warehouse; Brown was there and so was Robert………..' he was really struggling now, he voice choked and his hands working frantically, the knuckles showing white as he clenched his hands into fists over and over again; he took a deep breath and managed to continue; 'he had been beaten pretty badly and they were still beating him, trying to get him to tell them where 'it' was. He wouldn't say anything but then…………..' he stopped again his eyes meeting Jack's and Jack could see he was crying now, 'it got so bad he couldn't stand it any more, he told them he didn't have 'it' but that he had given it to Maggie……………..then they shot him'

He was sobbing now, his head in his hands, his body shaking; Jack and Danny looked at each other as they sat and waited for him to get his emotions back under some control; eventually, when he was calmer Danny leant forward

'You're certain he's dead?'

The agonised expression on Holland's face told them he was certain even before his words confirmed the fact; 'he shot him in the head………there wasn't anything……..'

'OK, what did they do with his body?' Jack cut across his description before Holland's emotions could get the better of him again

'I don't know'

'Well, where was this warehouse?'

'I don't know', he saw their expressions, 'I wasn't conscious on the way there and they blindfolded me on the way to the airport but I do know it didn't take more than 15 minutes to get to the airfield because they took me there and put me on a plane to Las Vegas for a meeting I had last night.'

'OK, you keep talking about something 'they' wanted. Who is 'they' and what is it they want?' There was more than a hint of aggression in Danny's voice as got up and sat on the table next to Holland, deliberately invading his space. He saw the fear in Holland's eyes so continued, 'and remember, your deal only works if you tell us everything'

The phone on the wall buzzed, looking mildly irritated Danny picked it up; 'Yes', he listened for a second then looked at Jack and jerked his head at the door.

Jack followed him out of the room to find Viv waiting for them; 'What's up?'

'We've just heard from the hospital'

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Martin stood up and stretched; 'thank god for that', he turned and looked at Sam, 'and thanks for staying'

She smiled weakly at him, 'I see what you meant now when you said your parents see the world in a very particular way'

He rolled his eyes and turned to look at Maggie's still unconscious form and then grinned at Sam; 'I bet she woke up hours ago, heard their voices and decided she was better off asleep'

Sam laughed, 'would you blame her?'

'No, I was starting to wonder if they would ever go' Martin sighed and sat down again next to Maggie, 'you know you should go home, you haven't slept in two days'

'Well neither have you Martin' Sam sounded amused

He shrugged his shoulders, 'I'll get some sleep in the chair' he reached into his pocket and pulled out his keys, 'but if you or Danny get a chance could one of you go back to mine and grab me a change of clothes?'

Sam frowned at him, 'I've got a better idea; why don't you head back to yours, have a shower, get changed and come back. I'll stay with Maggie until you get back and then I'll head home for a couple of hours sleep'

She saw him hesitate, his eyes on Maggie; 'Martin, even if she does wake up, you heard the Doctor, it takes time to come around properly after a head injury like the one she's suffered so even if she does start to wake up you are going to be back a long time before she knows what's going on'

He still hesitated and she spoke more sharply 'you won't be any use to her if you don't look after yourself'

He looked at her, a flash of anger in his eyes which quickly faded as he saw the concern in hers. His expression changed to one of resignation and he stood up; 'I'll be as quick as I can'

He stood staring at Maggie; Sam placed a hand on his arm and when he turned towards her she hugged him tightly, 'she'll be OK, I promise I wont leave her and I'll call you if anything happens'

He hugged her back and dropped a kiss on the top of her head; 'thanks, I don't know how I would have got through the last couple of hours without you'

She smiled at him, 'that's what friends are for'; the smile he gave her told her that he had heard the emphasis she placed on 'friends'.

After Martin left Sam sat in the chair next to Maggie, trying desperately to stay awake. A pleasant faced sensible looking nurse came in to take some readings, the name badge on her scrubs read 'Ford'; she looked surprised when she couldn't see Martin anywhere.

'I sent him home for a shower and a change of clothes'

Nurse Ford smiled, 'I'm impressed you managed to get him to go, he's refused to move from her side since they bought her out of theatre'

Sam yawned, 'God, sorry, I'm just so tired' she saw Nurse Ford look at her sympathetically,

'Can I get you anything? There's a coffee machine just down the corridor, it's not great but it might help you stay awake'

Sam shook her head and yawned again and they both laughed, 'Well maybe a coffee would be a good idea………' her voice trailed off as she saw the nurse's face change slightly and watched her bend over Maggie, staring at her intently

'What is it?' Sam wasn't feeling tired now.

Nurse Ford looked up at her; 'I'm just going to get the doctor along here to have a quick look at her' seeing the worry on Sam's face she smiled, 'nothing bad, it just looks to me as if she might be starting to wake up'

'Should I ring Martin?'

'Wait until Doctor Roberts has seen her; it can take 24 to 48 hours to wake up 'properly' from a head trauma like the one your friend has suffered' she smiled at Sam and left the room quickly

Sam moved to sit next to Maggie again, staring at her, trying to see some evidence that she was waking up. She picked up her hand, 'Maggie, if you can hear me, Martin will be back soon, he's just gone to get changed' she felt vaguely foolish talking to someone who couldn't talk back and was glad when she heard someone enter the room behind her.

She turned around to see a doctor with an angry look on his face when he saw her there. She smiled at him but her smile faded slightly as he stared coldly at her, 'Is there a problem?'

An irritated look crossed his face, 'it's past visiting hours you shouldn't be here'

Sam stared at him, shocked by his rudeness. He stood to one side, an impatient look on his face, 'please leave so that I can examine my patient'

She stood up slowly, and began to walk toward the door. She stared at him but he wouldn't meet her eyes; as she passed him her eyes dropped to his hands………..

She stopped, 'I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name?' she stood so that she was between him and Maggie, and saw anger flash into his eyes as he glared at her

'Please leave now' his voice was cold, angry. Sam let her right hand drop so that it hovered close to her gun. She let her eyes drop to his hospital pass……………

A sudden movement caught her eye and she jerked backwards just in time to stop the punch he threw connecting fully with her face, instead it caught her on the side of the head and she staggered into the wall.

He moved past her and she could see the knife in his hand as he threw himself at Maggie; Sam kicked hard with her foot, propelling the chair she had been sitting on into the back of his legs, causing him to stumble and drop the knife. He swung around, a snarl on his face as he tried to aim another punch at Sam but he was off balance.

Sam pulled her gun out aiming it at his head; 'FBI, get on the floor, GET ON THE FLOOR'

He stood still, his eyes going to where Maggie lay………

'Move away from the bed and lie on the floor'

He looked at her coldly, 'you won't shoot in case you hit her'

'I'm way to good a shot to be worried about that and believe me, if I don't see you hitting the floor in the next 5 seconds I WILL shoot.'

He stared at her as if he was trying to decide whether she was serious or not and then shrugged his shoulders and relaxed; he moved as if he was about to get onto his knees when he suddenly threw himself at Sam.

Sam hadn't relaxed and the change in his demeanour had made her more suspicious rather than less. She saw the flicker in his eye and moved aside just in time to avoid him connecting fully with her, but her gun was jerked from her hands and flew across the floor and under the bed as he knocked into her.

She hit the wall but managed to stay on her feet; she used her hands to steady herself and aimed a kick at him as was sprawling on the floor; she felt her foot connect

'Aggghhh' he screamed and she knew her kick had landed where she had aimed, right between his legs………………

She moved as quickly as she could, handcuffing his hands behind his back before retrieving her gun. Several people rushed into the room and she felt hands take hold of her and sit her down. She was aware of something warm on her face and when she looked down she could see blood everywhere but she couldn't figure out where it was coming from……………..

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

'Right Mr Holland, start talking and don't even think about stopping until you've told me everything'; Jack had come back into the room and was staring coldly at James Holland.

Holland sat back in his chair, took a deep breath and rubbed his chin with his hand as he looked at Jack and Viv

'Robert and I were pretty tight in college and we stayed in touch after we finished, usually saw each other a couple of times a year for a weekend away sailing or skiing, that kind of thing.'

He wasn't looking at Jack, instead he was staring into space, 'when he moved to New York he came up to see me for a weekend. He was never a gambler, a few dollars in the slot machines was about his limit but he did like to party. That weekend we had a high roller in town who had taken the presidential suite at the Xeon. He invited us to a party he was holding………..'

'What's his name Mr Holland?'

'Dimitri Sokolov, Russian obviously; a big gambler and someone who knows how to throw a good party. We went and he introduced us to a couple of Russian hookers. I remember the room feeling very warm and then things going fuzzy and Robert told me after he remembered the same thing; anyway we woke up the next morning in one of the suites bedrooms assuming we had both just drunk too much.'

'I take it you hadn't?'

'No, we'd been drugged. Not long after we woke up, we both received a package and in it were photos and a digital tape. They showed us both taking what appeared to be drugs and banging the two hookers. There was a note telling us to meet the owner of the originals later that day'

Jack stared at him 'did you go?'

'I didn't want to; neither did Robert but at the end of the note was a threat saying that if we didn't show up that they would harm people close to us, so we went and found out that the price of them staying quiet was that we co-operated when required.'

'Co-operated how?' Viv spoke for the first time.

'In my case it was helping them launder money through Xeon and arranging to pay their enforcers through a construction company'

'Caldwell Construction?'

'Yes'

'What about Robert?'

'Well, I think he was the main target. He told me that he was being asked to arrange for contracts worth millions to go to certain businesses. They had someone working in his office to make sure he did what he was supposed to do as well; he hated it, said he felt like he was under the microscope'

Viv lent forward, 'this person working on his office, it isn't Charles Lawton is it?'

Holland stared at her, 'yes, how did you know?'

Viv sat back, a satisfied look on her face, 'Call it feminine intuition. Go on Mr Holland'

'Well, Robert couldn't take it. He started taking cocaine because it was the only way he could cope. I think it's what they wanted because they were supplying it and a hooker for him whenever he asked. He broke up with Maggie because she guessed something was going on and he couldn't cope with the shame, then he heard she was moving to New York and something in him snapped. He came to see me, in a terrible state, and told me he was going to get out of 'this mess' and try and win Maggie back. When I asked him how………..well that's when he told me who it was we were working for.'

'You mean you didn't know who you were working for?' Jack's sounded incredulous

'Look all they wanted me to do was launder money, I dealt with Dimitri. Robert was a far more important cog in the wheel and he dealt with the man at the top. He was given a prepaid cell and he was contacted on it by him and used it to contact him when he needed to. They even changed the phones every few weeks.'

Jack and Viv exchanged looks and Jack leaned forward

'So, what is the name of the man at the top and why does he want Maggie Carlisle dead?