Matty walked through the door to the war room. "Riley I need an update."
"I've found the car I'm sure James used after he left the green one, it's registered to a guy named Oliver Crawl, no priors, we're not sure if James stole the car or whether he and Crawl know each other."
"Where is this Crawl now?"
"Living not too far away, Jack and Cage have gone to talk to him."
"Great, any closer to finding out where the car went?"
"No, I lose it and I haven't been able to pick it up again. I'm still looking though."
Matty nodded, worried that Riley was doing too much again. "When did you last sleep?"
"I slept while the programme I wrote did its thing, don't worry Matty I'm taking care of myself."
"Ok good, just making sure. I know it's hard, but we have to think about ourselves as well as Mac, he wouldn't want us running ourselves into the ground."
"I know," Riley replied, looking up from her search. "Did you find out anything new?"
"Unfortunately, not a lot, some of it just made me even more confused, it's hard to know what was going on in James's head when he left. He took classified files with him, copies, but still files about targets, interrogation techniques, even on fellow agents. The agency has no idea what he wanted them for."
"Maybe there were some people he wanted to track down himself?" Riley asked.
"It's possible, there's always the one that got away, maybe James had one of them. Let me know what Jack and Cage find out, I need to brief Oversight."
Riley nodded and went back to her computer, she was close to something, she could feel it.
"So how do you want to do this?" Cage asked, as they pulled up to Crawl's house.
"We don't know if this guy is a victim or a suspect, I say we just play it through, see where it leads."
Cage nodded and they both got out, heading up the stairs to the door of the place, Jack knocked and they both stood back.
"Can I help you?" A woman answered, slightly shocked by the strangers with guns on their hips.
"Is Mr Crawl home? We'd like to speak to him." Cage asked, her voice soothing.
"Of course, he's inside. Would you like to come in?"
"That would be lovely ma'am, thank you," Jack replied, following the woman inside.
"Honey, there are some people who want to speak to you."
"Who wants to speak to me?" Oliver Crawl asked, as he stepped through the door.
"Are you with the police?"
"No ma'am, we're with the government, this matter is a little sensitive, do you mind giving us a minute."
Mrs Crawl nodded, looking at her husband one more time before leaving the room.
"The government, what can I do to help the government," Oliver asked, taking a seat on the arm of the sofa.
"Do you recognise this man?" Cage asked, showing him a picture of James.
"No, never seen him."
"You said that a little too quickly there Hoss, I think you need to think about that some more," Jack said, taking a step towards then man, who was clearly lying.
"I'm not sure I can say," Oliver said, clearly scared, his eyes darting around the room.
Cage stepped in front of Jack, putting a hand on his arm, a quick look telling him that she would handle it. "Mr Crawl, Oliver, this man is extremely dangerous as I'm sure you're aware, he needs to be taken off the streets. Not only that but he's kidnapped a friend of ours and used a car in your name to do it."
Oliver looked up, shock and guilt written over his face.
"Did you help him?" Jack asked, trying hard to remain calm.
"No, of course not!" Oliver exclaimed. He paused then spoke again. "But I did take a car out in my name for him, it was last year, my wife and I we were in some financial trouble, when out of the blue this guy comes along. He put us back in the green and all I had to do was take out this car. I didn't think it would hurt anyone."
"Is that all you did?" Cage asked, knowing by looking at him this guy was just a pawn in James's game.
"Yes. Am I going to jail?"
"No, you're not going to jail," Jack said, feeling slightly sorry for the guy.
Oliver sank onto the sofa and put his head in his hands.
"I doubt he will, buts here's my number, if James contacts you call me straightaway." Cage put a piece of paper on the table. "We'll let ourselves out."
Jack and Cage walked back to the car, Jack ringing Riley as soon as they were inside.
"Did you find anything?" Riley asked as soon as she picked up.
"The guy was another dead end, he took out a car in his name for James and that's it, the end."
"Dammit, why do all our leads lead nowhere."
"We're on our way back, we'll regroup when we get there."
"I hoped this guy knew something too Jack, it's obviously something James does to stay off the radar, having other people buy cars for him."
Jack started the car and drove back to the Phoenix, glad when Cage didn't speak again. It was wrong seeing her in the passenger seat, that was Mac's seat, nobody else should sit there. He still couldn't believe this was happening, that Mac was missing, he just prayed Mac was holding it together and he didn't think they'd abandoned him.
Back in the war room they put all the information they had on the big screen, hoping there was something that they'd overlooked. Riley had found the car registered in Crawl's name a few times, on different camera's, none of them got a look at the drivers face and none of the locations set up any red flags.
Bozer came into the room with lunch for everyone and they got to work.
After a couple of hours of searching they still weren't any closer to finding anything and everyone was starting to get frustrated. This was when Matty walked in, finding them pulling their hair out.
"Right that's it, I'm sending you all home."
"Matty, it's not even that late."
"I don't care Dalton, you're all exhausted, you look like something the cat dragged in and I'm ordering you to go home. Don't come back until the morning."
"With all due respect, that's too long," Riley said.
"Look I know how you feel, I want to get Blondie home too. The problem is that your brains are so overworked and stretched, that you could be missing the answer. It could be staring you right in the face and you wouldn't see it."
"Matty's right," Cage said, standing up. "I know we don't want to hear it but coming back with fresh eyes might be just what we need. We're no closer really to finding Mac than when he was taken, the answers will hopefully become clear tomorrow."
All of them hated it but they knew Matty was right, they all left the war room to go to their respective houses, no one wanting to socialise without Mac. It was a long night, but they all felt better for it.
They'd all settled back in the war room and began where they'd left off, really hoping that Matty had been right about them needing fresh eyes.
After an hour of searching Boze looked up and asked a question that had been bugging him since he arrived. "Why would James get someone to take out a car for him in their name?"
"Because it's easier for him to stay off the grid," Cage responded, feeling like Bozer should really know this.
"I get that, by why not just make yourself a fake identity, get the car yourself, cut out the middleman."
There was a pause and then Riley sat up. "Oh my god, you're right."
"I am? What exactly am I right about?"
"James didn't just use Oliver Crawl, so it was easier for him not get a car, he used him so that he had official documents for that name. So, he could use the name himself as an identity."
"So, he's using Crawl's name as his own?" Jack asks.
"Which means he might have used that name to do anything, say rent or buy property. It'll take a little while, but I can find out everything that name has purchased, big and small."
"And that's where Mac might be?" Bozer asked, trying not to get his hopes up.
"It's possible."
It was after lunch when Riley came up with a list of possible places. By then Matty had joined them.
"Ok first we need to check with Mr Crawl and see in any of these are his."
"Matty that'll take too long," Jack said, ready to check out these places himself.
"Jack, it's easier to speak to him and narrow the list then send tac teams to all the locations. What if we're wrong and they all belong to the genuine article, how much time would be wasted then."
"You've got a point, ok Cage and I will go back to the Crawl residence, narrow it down."
"While they're doing that, Riley find out as much as you can on all the properties. Get me satellite views if possible."
"Will do."
"What shall I do?" Bozer asked.
"Stay and help Riley, you were the one who set this in motion, you should be here until the end."
The wheels were indeed in motion, they had their lead and they were confident that one of the properties would lead them to Mac.
By the time Jack was getting ready to leave with the tac team it was getting late, Matty almost told them to wait until morning, but she knew they'd already wasted enough time.
The three properties were in different areas and they didn't have enough manpower to cover them all at once, it meant that one team would be breaching each, one after the other. Starting with the closest, a warehouse and finishing with a one storey house off the beaten track.
Riley and Bozer were staying in the war room with Matty, watching the team breach on the big screen, Cage and Jack were leading the team on the ground.
It was hard to say who was more on edge, the tac team on the ground or the people waiting behind. The first building was empty, didn't even look like it had ever been occupied, the second was similar, except they disturbed some squatters so there was a moment of madness when people started running in different directions.
They all held their breath as they headed to the third location, Mac had to be there, or they'd failed. It was now the middle of the night, nearing 1am when they approached the perimeter, the house was dark but that didn't mean there was no one there. There appeared to only be one entrance, but Jack sent some people around to the back just in case, he didn't want James to try leaving through a window.
They decided on a silent entry, hoping that the occupants were asleep, they put on their night vision goggles and Cage picked the locked, breaching quietly but efficiently. Each member of the team went in a different direction, Jack choosing the door that was closest, he pulled it open and noticed a set of stairs, a basement. He headed down clearing the room, he stood in the centre for a minute taking it in, there wasn't much there, but he knew that was where Mac had been kept. He got the all clear from the rest of the team and saw them starting to turn on the lights.
Cage came to the top of the stairs and turned on the basement light.
"We're too late," Jack said. "He's gone."