Chapter 10

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When she was finally able to compose herself, Sam made her way to the conference room where the team was assembled. The first person she saw was Chao sitting at one end of the table talking on the phone. He looked up and gave her a quick smile before speaking to whoever was on the other end and jotting something down on a yellow legal pad. She closed the door behind her and when she glanced around she saw Martin and Danny chatting in the corner by the coffee pot, their heads bowed close as if they were discussing something confidential. The moment the door clicked closed they both looked over at her. Danny gave her a sympathetic smile while Martin's face was blank, unreadable. She grabbed the back of her chair and sat down. Her palms were suddenly warm and clammy so she wiped them on her pant thighs before reaching over to grab a folder from the stack of background checks.

She turned to the first page and starting reading, trying her best to concentrate on the words and not that Martin sat down opposite of her. Her mind was like a needle stuck in a groove, playing in an endless loop, as Martin's words repeated over and over, I knew before, I knew before, I knew before… She massaged her fingers against her temple trying to sooth her escalating headache. She stared down at the sheath of papers, wondering why the temperature in the room was set on high. She was roasting in her jacket. She took a breath and flipped the page, the jostling of papers echoing in the unusually quiet conference room.

"I think I might have something," Martin said aloud.

She looked up at the same time he did and their eyes locked. She didn't know why but she couldn't bring herself to blink or look away.

Danny cleared his throat, shattering their silent staring contest, and they both turned to face him. His eyes darted between them before landing on Martin. "What did you find?"

"Wha…oh, um," Martin replied, flustered. He quickly recovered and said, "It seems that a year ago, all three doctors were being actively recruited by Pegasus Pharmaceuticals."

"Pegasus Pharmaceuticals?" Chao repeated as he typed the name into the computer. Martin stood up and walked over, peering over the agent's shoulder. "Oh man, it looks like Pegasus is being investigated by White Collar for patent violations and by Counter Terrorism for...whoa…"

Sam noticed both men's blanched faces and stood up, asking, "Whoa? What whoa?"

Martin looked up at her and replied, "Bio-terrorism."

"Are you serious?"

"They under suspicion of selling weapon ready chemicals in the black market," he said as she walked over, along with Danny. The three of them stood behind Chao, glancing at the FBI file while Martin read, "They've been under surveillance for the last three months after they reported a large amount of lab-grade Anthrax weapon grade missing from their lab in Irvine. They claim they are still investigating it but so far they haven't found it."

Danny folded his arms across his chest and said, "Okay, so the same company that wanted to hire our missing doctors to work in their lab is also under investigation by the bureau. What are we thinking? They are using our doctors and their research to prepare the anthrax for sale in the black market?"

Chao looked skeptically at Danny and said, "Even if they did, why wouldn't they just use their own staff? Why kidnap other doctors?"

"Maybe they know they are being investigated so they wanted it done out of house?" Sam speculated.

"Either way we need to go talk to someone over at Pegasus," Martin commented, with his eyes still on the laptop screen. Sam could see his eyes darting side to side as he continued reading the file. "And we probably should talk to the agents who are investigating them as well."

"Chao and I will head over to Pegasus and poke around to see what we can find out," Danny announced as he deftly tugged on Chao's elbow, forcing the young agent out of his chair to follow behind. "You guys can go talk to whoever is investigating the pharm company."

"Danny, I don't…" Sam and Martin stammered out at the same time. They each looked at one another, fear evident in both their faces.

"What?" Danny replied as he and Chao reached the door. He stopped and looked at both of them, asking, "Is there a problem?" Sam suddenly felt very self-conscious standing there under Danny's scrutinizing glare. He tilted his head and finished, "I didn't think so, after all, you're both professionals, I'm sure you can handle it."

As soon as Danny and Chao were out of sight, she turned to look at Martin. "You know, I can go talk to them myself…"

Martin shook his head slowly and said, "No, he's right. We're professionals, we can both go." He turned and walked back over to the laptop. With his gaze fixed on the screen he started writing something down on a piece of paper. "It looks like we need to go see agents Szbornak and O'Brien. Their offices are on the twelfth floor."

They both headed for the door at the same and when they reached it, their hands collided over the doorknob.

"Sorry, go ahead," Sam mumbled as she released her grip, taking a step back.

He opened the door, motioning for her to exit first. She walked out ahead of him, taking long, determined strides to the elevator. She reached it first and pressed the call button forcefully with her index finger. When the button didn't illuminate, she gave it another forceful push, and then another, and then another. She kept pressing it, the action of poking something repeatedly made her feel better than any actual chance of the small round button becoming lit.

"I think the light is broken," Martin commented from where he stood next to her.

She looked at him and gave the button one final defiant press before dropping her hands to her side. She was certain that the tension she felt wasn't strictly radiating from her; some of it was coming from Martin as well.

"Sam," he said, gently.

She spun around on her heels to face him, crossing her arms tightly over her chest. "Yes?"

He released a defeated sigh and began, "What do you say we call a truce and just leave the past in the past and just focus on the here and now, on the case?"

"I don't think ignoring it makes it go away," she replied just as gently. "Actually, I think the problem is we ignore too much."

"Yeah," he said as he put one hand in his trouser pocket and rubbed the back of his neck with the other. "But we can't work together like this either."

The elevator door dinged and the doors started to slide open but neither made a move to enter. Sam looked at him and then the door and said, "You're right, work comes first." She paused and met his gaze. "But I really do want to talk about this," she waved her hand between the two of them and finished, "later. I think we both need to get some things off our chest."

He looked visibly nervous at the prospect but he gave her a nod and replied, "Deal."

They boarded the elevator and headed upstairs. Even though the ride up was in quiet, she felt comfortable in the knowledge that they were going to be okay – for the time being anyway.

A few minutes later they made their way to the offices of JTTF. They walked past rows and rows of gray walled cubicles that were only distinguishable by the little knick-knacks or pictures the agents posted, separating them from the rest of the other agents, making them unique. She spotted lots small framed photos of loved ones, little plastic toys like a wind-up sushi, and postcards tacked onto the bulletin boards from someone who writes that they wished you were there but the author was just happy they weren't here.

Martin stopped walking when he spotted the office of SAC J. O'Brien. He knocked and a deep gruff voice shouted for them to enter. They walked in and seated behind the desk sat a stocky man with a face full of freckles and a receding hairline of strawberry blonde hair.

"Hi, we're agents, Fitzgerald and Spade," Martin said as held out a hand, shaking O'Brien's. "We'd like to talk to you about your investigation into Pegasus Pharmeceuticals."

O'Brien gestured for them to sit down and asked, "Why are you asking about them?"

"We are investigating the disappearance of three missing scientists who were all recruited by Pegasus a year ago," Sam explained as she sat down on the worn chair. The bottom cushion padding so worn that it was now more a thin sheet of fabric, causing the springs to dig into her thigh.

"What makes you think it's connected?" O'Brien asked, leaning back in his chair.

Martin explained that they missing doctors were all doing research on Anthrax and the company reported some missing from their inventory. "It just seems like a lot more than coincidence."

O'Brien studied them for a moment before reaching over and picking up his phone. "Can you please come in my office? There are some people I think you should talk to." He put down the phone, looked at them and said, "We have been after Pegasus for almost a year now but it was only once they reported the missing anthrax that we could officially put them on our case list. We believe that they are receiving most of their funding from organizations out of Iran and North Korea but it is filtered through so many subsidiary companies it's virtually impossible to trace. By conducting the research here, it legitimizes their work. It's one of those loopholes. By doing it here in the US, they can operate under the radar but if they did it in North Korea or Iran they would have the U.N. all over them." His lips curved up into a humorless smile and he added, "That's the beauty of the conducting business in the most powerful country in the world. Red tape and friends in influential places."

The door opened behind them and a tall man with thick wavy brown hair and a large nose entered. "You wanted to see me?"

"Agents Spade and Fitzgerald, this is Joe Szbornak," after they all exchanged cursory introductions, O'Brien continued, "They are here searching for some missing scientists they think might be connected to Pegasus."

"Really?" Joe replied, optimistically.

"This pleases you?" Martin asked, glancing quickly at Sam.

"Well, yeah," Joe said as she leaned against the tall gray filing cabinet in the corner of the room. "Pegasus is like Teflon, nothing can stick to them. But if we can link them to a kidnapping then maybe we can finally start to bring them down."

O'Brien nodded in agreement and asked, "What do you need from us?"

Sam crossed her legs and shifted to face Szbornak. "To begin with, we'd like to read your case files, see if we can find any thing that might link them to our missing people."

"You got it," O'Brien replied. "But if you don't mind, we'd like to work with you on this."

"Sure," Martin replied, standing up. "We could use all the help we can get." He started to the door so Sam stood up and followed. "Just send the files to the conference room on the seventh floor."

They exited O'Brien's office and made their way to the elevator to head back upstairs. There was a small crowd waiting in front of the elevator so Sam turned to Martin and asked, "What do you say we take the stairs? It's just five floors down."

"Sounds good to me," he agreed.

She pushed open the door to the stairway and they stepped inside the barren concrete stairwell; their steps echoing as they descended. As they started downstairs she suddenly remembered a time when they used to use the stairwell for things other than going from one floor to another. They knew which areas were monitored and which were not, using the later for secret rendezvous' when they were dating.

X0X

It was early in their relationship, when it was all about passion and spontaneity. That blissful time when it was hard to not touch each other as much as possible because each caress, rub, or even a nudge, sent tremors through her skin, setting her body on fire.

"C'mere," a hand reached for her from the shadows in the corner of the stairwell. She shuffled her way to the warm voice when a pair of hot lips pressed up against her mouth. She snaked her arms around his neck as he pressed her body up against his, roping his hands under her jacket and around to the small of her back before moving down to cup her ass, giving it a playful squeeze. When they finally broke apart, he smiled at her and said, "I've wanted to do that all day."

"Me too," she replied as she gently caressed the back of his neck, tenderly rubbing her fingers along the small patch of skin between his shirt collar and where his hair tapered off.

He moved his hands slowly from her back to rest on her hips. He kissed her softly on the lips and murmured, "So, my place or yours?"

"Do you have an extra suit in your car?" she asked, planting soft kisses along his jaw line, working her way to his ultra sensitive earlobe. She knew that she could get him to do just about anything by nibbling on his earlobe.

"Yeah," he replied, distractedly.

"Then let's go to my place," she decided, her warm breath on his neck as she inhaled his musky scent. She moved back to look at him, his eyes were dark with desire and she found herself aroused by the way he was watching her. "And hurry up," she kissed him hard on the mouth, their tongues doing what they wished other body parts could do at the moment. She forced herself to pull back, panting heavily. "I want you in my bed as soon as possible."

He gave her a devilish smile and replied, "That's what you said last time and we didn't even make it down your front hall."

She stepped up, kissing him quickly but thoroughly and said, "Do you want to stand here and argue semantics or do you want to get home so I can have my way with you?"

He kissed her and throatily replied, "Okay, I'll shut up now."

"Good," she said as she kissed him a final time before turning and hurrying down the stairs, exiting the door to the lobby. She knew that if she stayed with him a second longer she wouldn't be able to wait until they got home.

X0X

Suddenly Martin's cell phone shrilled, shattering the hot memory. She felt slightly jostled by the ringing, it sounded like a symphony in the cavernous space. She glanced at Martin who had a smile on his face as he checked the caller ID.

With the grin still present he answered, "Hey you."

The second she heard his tone she knew who he was talking to: Rachel. She wondered if he even knew that he used to have the same voice when he would call her. It was a combination of flirtation, excitement, and hopefulness. She hurried her pace, wanting to have her back to him so he couldn't see her face as she listened to him speak to…her.

"Hang on, I can barely hear you," he said into the cell. Sam heard him stop walking behind her so she stopped as well, turning around to face him. "I'm in a stairwell so the reception is bad. Hold on," he put the phone on his shoulder, stepped to a door exiting onto the ninth floor and said, "I'll meet you downstairs. I gotta take this call."

She nodded and watched him as he exited the stairwell, leaving her alone. She stared at the door a beat, feeling stuck somewhere between her warm memories of her past with Martin and the cool present she shared with him now.