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chapter six

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when the world is falling down
and another breaks
and another falls
four losers always make the winner's day

-Lifehouse, "Stanley Climbfall"

xx

Almost two minutes had passed, and they both sat in silence, considering his words.

"So what exactly were you two doing that you showed up at the hospital in jeans, anyway?" Martin heard voices echoing down the hall. He didn't recognize them, but could tell from the look on Samantha's face that she did.

"Not that it's any of your business, Taylor, but we were at Starbuck's. When we got the call, we just came on ahead." The first voice had been a male, but the one that answered was female.

"Oooooh, how exciting!" the male voice answered. "Clearly, I am going to have to take you out on the town."

"Contrary to popular belief, Danny, some women are immune to your charms." The woman's voice is laughing now, only a tinge of exasperation in it. Martin could tell the two were standing just outside the break room door.

"Oh yeah? Name one woman."

"Besides me?"

"I'm going to choose to ignore that comment."

"Fine. Sam."

"That doesn't count!"

Martin saw Samantha roll her eyes and stand up from the table. "Please excuse Siskel and Ebert out there." Then she spoke up, insistently. "I most certainly do count, Danny!"

He found he was smiling in spite of himself, in spite of the fact that his nieces were out there - missing - and with a complete stranger. She just seemed to bring it out in him, and he didn't want it to stop.

The male voice outside was suddenly silent, as the female answered her phone.

"Russell," Martin heard. In between pauses, the female stated affirmation several times before answering, "Yeah, we're on it. Thanks for letting me know."

He heard Samantha join the other two voices, "What's up, Naomi?"

"Heather Meekins' car was originally registered to a Shawn Aguilar, who we already knew is the one guy she's been calling consistently over the last two months. Local PD found the vehicle outside a gas station in White Plains, but no one has reported seeing the girls yet."

"Did they find anything in the car?" The male voice was speaking again.

"One shoe, probably the little one's. And a picture that one of them must have drawn in art class."

Before their voices faded and they walked away, Martin swore he heard Samantha sigh.

xx

10:00 pm

"Okay, I got something." Sam waited as the rest of the team joined her at the conference table. "Our 'Heather Meekins' is actually Justina Hobbs, 24, born and raised in Queens. No family to speak of. She was fired from her last job when she failed the mandatory drug test, but that was in 2000."

"And since then?" Jack asked.

"She was serving time for possession but got out in December on good behavior. She hasn't made contact with her parole officer in three months, which is where I found the connection. I just got off the phone with the parole officer, who said that she and Shawn Aguilar definitely knew each other. Shawn apparently came barging into their last meeting, and he was probably high and hallucinating."

"So, what?" Jack prompts. "Are we thinking that Justina's using again and she and Shawn decided to snatch the girls for drug money?"

"Well, that would make sense," Sam countered, "but we haven't gotten any ransom calls yet."

"No one we interviewed at the hospital mentioned any unusual behavior. They said Heather was fairly quiet and would just blend into the background." Danny reminded them.

"I don't know," Sam started, weighing her theory carefully as she presented it to the team, "but I still really feel like this is somehow related to revenge. It just seems so premeditated. I mean, she creates a new identity, gets a brand new job, and just happens to kidnap the girls the day their father goes out of town."

"Revenge for what, though?" Naomi asked. "There are a thousand possibilities and not a single viable lead."

"I already got them to run Shawn Aguilar through the hospital system, and nothing came up. He's never been treated there." Danny added.

Samantha shrugged. "I just, I don't know. I can't think of any other reason that we haven't had a ransom call yet."

"Okay, Danny see if you can get the hospital to run Justina Hobbs through the registry to see if anything turns up. Vivian and Naomi, you two split up the paper trail. Sam, why don't you see what you can come up with on the revenge angle?"

At Jack's orders, they were off.

xx

10:15 pm

Martin wrung his hands together and shifted in his seat.

At this point, Kelsey and Bridget had been missing for almost five hours, and he was certain they were the worst five hours of his life - in spite of the fact that it had provided him the opportunity to see her again.

Being in the Federal Building, watching the entire team as they worked and interacted, Martin couldn't help but wonder how things would have been different if he hadn't decided to go into politics. For a few months, he had seriously considered joining the FBI and becoming an agent. Instead, he now watched helplessly as his father barked orders around the relatively quiet office, his older sister clung to his mother for support, and his brother-in-law was still stuck somewhere in Philadelphia, desperately trying to come home to his family.

He envied the easy rapport the team seemed to have, how they seemed to joke with each other to keep the mood light, how there seemed to be genuine friendships that went beyond 'just coworkers'. He watched through the glass window of the lounge as Danny walked up behind Samantha, handing her a mug of coffee and exchanging a few words before returning to write something on the large white board where they chronicled all of the events of the day of disappearance, according to his father.

Speaking of his father, Victor was now approaching the center table with Jack Malone. They seemed to be in intense conversation with Danny and Samantha, until finally coming to some sort of consensus and heading towards the lounge where he sat with his mother and Caroline.

"Dad?" Caroline sat up, not attempting to mask the fear in her voice.

"We received word that a woman matching Justina's description was seen in Wal Mart earlier this afternoon, purchasing a few items for small children." Jack acted as spokesman, "It took as awhile to make visual confirmation, but it was definitely Justina."

"This is good news," Victor continued. "It means that they probably weren't planning on hurting the girls."

"It's no guarantee," Jack said. "But it is generally a good sign."

"So what do you do now?" Martin found himself asking.

"Well, now we are going out to check on a lead." Victor moved closer in to his wife, but Martin's eyes remained on Jack, Samantha, and Danny at the door of the room.

"... we should probably go get ready," Samantha was motioning towards the end of the hallway.

"Okay, can you be back in twenty minutes?" Jack asked.

"We'll be here in fifteen," Samantha countered.

"What's going on?" Naomi swung around the doorframe and appeared out of nowhere.

"How do you feel -" Samantha smirked at her peer, "- about running a drug bust?"

Danny turned to leave the room, and the two women followed suit.

Martin did not shift his gaze until the elevator doors shut behind them.

xx

11:50 pm

six hours missing

Martin moved around the bullpen anxiously. It had been well over an hour since his father and the rest of the agents had left for their drug bust, and he felt extremely anxious.

The flurry of activity as the team had prepared to leave had been overwhelming. Caroline had been on the phone with Rebecca while his mother fawned over his father, displeased that he would be going out in the field. Jack Malone and the rest of the team, however, seemed relatively calm in their bustling about before leaving.

And Martin was certain that the image of Samantha, in street clothes and dark makeup, was not going to be leaving his mind's eye anytime soon.

"We found out the name of the dealer that Shawn Aguilar usually goes through. We're going to ask around on the streets to see if anyone's heard anything and maybe bring the dealer in for questioning. It's nothing to worry about, Lydia." His father was attempting to sooth his mother, although it wasn't working very well.

"I've spent too many years worrying about you to take this lightly, dear." His mother responded in kind.

"Everything's going to be fine, Mrs. Fitzgerald," he heard Samantha's voice from the doorway. When he looked up, he was sure everyone in the room would have seen him gaping. She was obviously done up to blend in on the street, in tight jeans and an even tighter top that left little to the imagination. She was playing the part to a T, and in spite of the role and the dark makeup that covered some of her best features, her face radiated beauty.

Thankfully, though, everyone else seemed to be preoccupied in one way or another and did not notice him staring.

"We're ready, sir."

Victor nodded, and he and Samantha both joined the rest of the team at the end of the hallway.

"Hey, man," Martin's thoughts were interrupted as his brother-in-law came up behind him. Tim had arrived about twenty minutes ago. "I hear your dad is out in the field with the other agents."

"Yeah, he seems to think it's where he's most useful," Martin rolled his eyes. He really did love his father, but the idiosyncrasies of Victor Fitzgerald were more than he'd ever been able to understand. If he spent time trying to decipher them, he'd just end up disgruntled and frustrated.

Tim's gaze was on the photograph of his daughters that hung on the white board in the center of the bullpen. Martin watched as he fingered the photo of the girls. "I keep remembering the first time I held them, about how I thought it was the best moment of my life." He paused, deep in thought. "If I could trade places with them right now, I'd do it in a heartbeat."

Neither man had further opportunity to consider Tim's words, however, as the elevator down the hall opened to release raised voices and commotion.

"I insist that you let my daughter take a look at that," he heard his father's gruff voice bellow as the group approached.

Quickly, everyone had reconvened back at the conference table.

"If you don't mind, Jack, I'd like to be the one to question him," Samantha was saying.

"Okay, you take a few minutes and get cleaned up. I'll send you and Danny."

"Martin, son, will you please get your sister?" His father noticed that he and Tim were standing on the outskirts of the group, observing them as they spoke rapidly amongst themselves.

His heart sunk when he saw why his father was so insistent that he summon Caroline. The skin on Samantha's shoulder looked red and angry, and it was obvious that there had been some kind of scuffle while they had been out.

In the thirty seconds it took Martin to return with Caroline, half of the team had dispersed on their various tasks, leaving only Victor, Danny, and Samantha sitting in the bullpen. Martin noticed that Naomi was hovering in a corner, deep in a discussion with Jack, while Vivian led Tim into Jack's office.

"It's pretty superficial, I really don't need this!" Sam was insisting.

"Sam!" Danny laughed at her, "You are impossible! Just let her take a look, alright?"

"Thanks, mom," Samantha quipped. Martin wasn't sure, but he thought he saw his father crack a smile watching them.

"It really doesn't look too bad," his sister said, walking over to where Samantha sat on the conference table and inspecting her shoulder. "What happened?"

"The dealer got angry when I went to cuff him. He grabbed my shoulder and tried to pull me down."

"But Sam kicked his ass," Danny finished.

"Long story short, yeah," Sam and Danny laughed together, and Martin found himself intrigued at the image of Samantha subduing a drug dealer.

"Well, it looks like you've just got a couple of superficial abrasions and some bruising," Caroline was all business. "You should use ice for twenty minutes a couple of times a day, and do you have any Bacitracin at home to put on the cuts?" Samantha nodded. "You should be fine, then. I'd expect the bruising to go down in a couple of days, but if anything gets worse, you know where to find me."

"Alright, I suppose we should go interrogate our friend 'Viper' then. Shall we?" Danny motioned to Samantha before saying, "After you, milady."

Samantha turned around as she hoisted herself off of the conference table. "I told you I was fine."

Danny caught Martin's eyes before turning to follow Samantha. "She is something else," Danny mouthed silently.

Martin could only nod in agreement.

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