Sorry it has been so long between posts. Hubby dear took me on a surprise vaca and I didn't get to finiish polishing this one before we left. But I'm back and the fingers are busy working on the Brassman (oh, don't I wish, lol). Anyway, hope you enjoy this installment.

Jim wasn't sure what he expected Sally Trang to be like, but the woman at the door wasn't it. He was surprised by so few things anymore that it tickled him. She was another Ameri-Asian with light eyes and dark strawberry blonde hair. As he looked closer, Jim realized her eyes were green with a hint of hazel. He couldn't decide if the hair was natural or not. Her eyebrows, usually a give away, were light in color too. She appeared to be in her mid forties and was absolutely gorgeous.

"I'm Jim Brass," he introduced himself as he stood on the doorstep.

She smiled and stepped back, welcoming him into her home. "As I said on the phone, I'm not sure how I can help but I do want to," she told him as they sat in her living room.

Just as Jim pulled out his pad and pen, a small girl ran into the room, stopped suddenly when she saw Jim, and then stepped back to stand shyly next to her mother. She had her mother's eyes and a darker shade of her hair, settling Jim's debate about Sally's hair being a natural color. Jim smiled at her and winked and was rewarded with a timid smile in return.

"This is our youngest, Annabelle. She is named for Guy's sister, who has been a second mother to me."

Jim smiled. "You have other children?" he asked Sally.

"Twin boys, Josh and Jake. They are 12 and Annabelle is 7," the mother said smiling proudly. "The boys look more like their father, but Annabelle looks like me," she explained.

Jim nodded. "She does," he agreed. So the boys look Vietnamese while the little girl… not so much.

He began to ask questions about the Trang's business dealings and possible threats from anyone. Sally Trang had been right; she had little to add.

Greg dashed into the layout room, where Nick was still working. "Got results back on that DNA," Greg said excitedly. "The last sample is female. And get this; there's a high probability of a familial connection to Brass. I ran the sample against CODIS and also our own databases. Oh, and Mandy got a hit on the prints…belong to the same guy."

Nick looked up, feeling hopeful for the first time in hours bit also surprised. "Seriously? Could it be Brass' daughter?"

"No….uh, not enough common alleles for that close a relationship." Greg hedged. He knew from testing Ellie Brass years before that there was not a biological connection between the two but he didn't know if Nick knew about it. So he moved to his other bit of news, "And Mandy's guy is Sammy Chen. He's a clean-up guy for a Chinese Triad in L.A."

Nick's brow furrowed. "So what's he doing here?"

"Dunno," Greg answered. "But maybe Trang's company did some work for them…you know…importing?"

Nick clenched his jaw. "Yeah maybe. I'll call Brass," he said as he pulled his phone from his pocket.

"Sammy Chen? You sure that's his name?" Jim Brass asked Nick through the phone.

"That's what the DNA says," Nick replied. "He's from L.A., so there's no guarantee that he's even still here."

"No, but we'll put the word out anyway. And I'll call L.A. to see what I can find out about him. Thanks Nicky."

"Hey Jim," Nick said before the detective could hang up.

"Yeah?"

"Um, Greg came up with something on that other sample too. Um… he says it's a woman and….she could be related to …you. But not close, like your daughter."

Jim was surprised by that. "Me? …Uh, I don't see how. I mean, well….I do have a cousin in Boston. But she's…I dunno, like eighty. And my older sister…but she's back in Jersey."

"Okay, well….he did say it was probable; not a 100% match."

"Okay, whatever…" Jim said as he thought about Chen and his possible connection to the case. He didn't hesitate after he hung up from Nick's call. Looking at Sally Trang he asked, "you ever heard of anyone named Sammy Chen?"

Sally's eyebrows furrowed together as she thought. "I heard Guy on the phone with someone he called Sammy. It was two days before he left for Vietnam. He told this…Sammy that he couldn't help him…that Tim was the one he should talk to. Guy was very upset after the call."

"Anything else you remember?" Jim asked.

Sally took a deep breath. "Tim came over that night and they went to Guy's office and closed the door. They argued; they never argued so it surprised me. And then Tim left. Guy was very upset."

"Okay thanks," Jim said as he prepared to leave.

"Do you think this Sammy person was the one who….took Mai?"

"We don't know. His name came up in our investigation and right now, we are just following every lead we get," Jim told her.

"Do you think….I mean, is my family safe?" Sally was very nervous, Jim realized.

"Oh, I don't think they have any reason to come after you… unless there's something you're not telling me. But with your husband still away, you might want to stay with someone else…maybe Jimmy or his mother's place…"

She nodded anxiously. "Yes, I think….yes, we will do that. Thank you."

"Good," he smiles gently. "And I still need to speak with her."

Sally frowned. "Good luck with that."

Jim frowned. "What? She anti social or something?"

"No, she's quite friendly actually. But she isn't much of one to work with the authorities. She says all they do is complicate our lives."

Jim nodded. "Okay, but I still need to speak with her…"

By the time Jim made it back to PD, he had Vega and Vartann looking for Chen already, checking the hotels and casinos. A call to the car rental companies revealed that the suspect had rented a car at the airport two days before the kidnapping. A few minutes later, a BOLO was out on Chen and the rental car.

Jim stepped into his office and found Detective Brian Trinh waiting for him. "I talked to some of the local community," Brian reported. "Everyone seemed surprised by the notion that the Trangs might be involved with anything illegal. But Guy would be the weak link if there is one. Word is that Tim and his sister, Anna, are as straight arrow as it gets. Guy has a bit of a wild side."

"Wild? As in…?"

"Well, word has it that he got heavily in debt to some of the casinos after they first moved to Vegas. Tim went to the owners and worked out some deals and had them ban Guy. Also, there have been rumors of Guy and drugs, but nothing definite."

"Okay, thanks Brian. If anyone hears anything else…"

"The word is out and I left my cards all over. I'll get a call."

Another call to L.A. got Jim the background on Chen that he was looking for. "He's a goon for one of the Triads operating there," he told Ecklie and the CSIs in a quickly called meeting. "The Triad is run by Daniel Wong, a second generation Chinese-American with strong ties back in China. He and his goons have their fingers in lots of pies, including counterfeiting, drugs and human trafficking. LAPD broke up one of his best supply lines a few months ago and he's been struggling to find new ways to import and export his goods."

Ecklie looked confused. "Wait, why does he need to export? Isn't he bringing drugs and people into this country?"

Jim grunted. "Seems some of the wealthier Chinese want American women as slaves…"

"So, he's kidnapping and sending our women over there?" Ecklie asked, obviously disgusted.

"And girls," Jim said roughly.

The last piece of the puzzle dropped for the group around the table. Tim Trang had probably been approached by Wong's organization, possibly because of Guy's alleged involvement with drugs, and refused to help. Payback for refusal was his murder and his niece being taken. A collective gasp sounded around the table as they realized that she could already be on her way to China.

The end of the meeting was somber as they went in different directions. Nick and Greg went back to the lab to continue working on the evidence, Ecklie headed back to his office, and Jim went into the detective's bullpen to see if there was any word from the BOLO. Sam Vega was at his desk, calling some of the seedier places in town to see if they'd seen Chen.

"Anything?" Jim asked him as he hung up.

Sam shook his head negatively. "It's like he's disappeared into a hole…"

Anxious and unable to be still, Jim moved through the halls of PD, trying to settle down. As he walked past the patrolmen's locker room, he heard music and paused to listen. The radio was blaring a soulful Percy Sledge and it took Jim back to his last night in Vietnam.

Resting in a rack, he was trying not to think about An and how sad she'd been when he left. The vision of her standing on the road and watching as he walked away from her had torn at him the entire journey back. And now the radio was playing that damned song…

"When a man loves a woman, he can't keep his mind on nothing else
He'll trade the world for the good thing he's found
If she is bad, he can't see it, she can do no wrong
Turn his back on his best friend if he put her down

When a man loves a woman, spend his very last dime
Tryin' to hold on to what he needs
He'd give up all his comforts, sleep out in the rain
If she said that's the way it ought to be

Well, this man loves a woman
I gave you everything I had
Tryin' to hold on to your precious love
Baby, please don't treat me bad

When a man loves a woman, down deep in his soul
She can bring him such misery
If she played him for a fool, he's the last one to know
Lovin' eyes can't ever see

When a man loves a woman, he can do her no wrong
He can never own some other girl
Yes, when a man loves a woman I know exactly how he feels
'Cause baby, baby, baby, you're my world

When a man loves a woman I know exactly how he feels…"

In his rack, Jim could feel the singer's pain. An was his world. But he had done his woman wrong; he'd left her and as much as he hoped to go back to get her, he knew it was a long shot. Odds were, he'd never see her again. Jim rolled over and faced the wall, not wanting the others to see the tears that were rolling down his face…

Pressure formed behind Jim's eyes as he stood in the hallway listening to the ending of the song. Briefly glimpsing back over his adult life, he could only remember two other times when he'd cried as much as he had that night; the night he realized his marriage was really over and the day Nancy told him that Ellie wasn't really his. With a heavy heart, he turned and walked back towards his office.

He was sitting at his desk, wishing for a shot of the Scotch that was in his bottom desk drawer, when Catherine poked her head through his door. "Nicky says you've got a suspect," she said brightly.

Jim looked up, surprised by her interest. She hadn't been exactly friendly since their squabble last year over bringing the Dick & Jane killer back to Vegas. Even though he'd been wrong in suspecting Haskell in the new murders, his instinct about bringing the scum back to Vegas had been right in the end…and Ray had paid the price. He'd fought the urge to say 'told you so' at the hospital and he and Catherine had mended fences enough to work together, but the friendship they'd once shared has suffered. And since the investigation into Ray's role in Haskell's death, things had gotten even more awkward.

Still, she was at his door, looking at him expectantly, so he waved her in. "You here on another case," he asked as she settled into a chair across from his desk.

"Yeah, well…sorta," she smiled. "Brought some files over for Lou from a case that's going to trial in a couple of days…"

"The Emerson case? I thought that was still weeks away?"

"Yeah, well…it got moved up. Anyway, it's all old news. But what about your missing girl?"

"Still missing," Jim shrugged. "Nick and Greg are still processing some of the evidence they found at the scene but we know who we're looking for. It's just a matter of getting a lead on the guy now," Jim finished. His eyes slid back to his lower drawer and did not go unnoticed by Catherine.

"This case is really getting to you, isn't it?" Her tone revealed more concern for him than she'd shown in a year.

Jim looked up, into her face and saw her worry. "Yeah. Something about it…about the family is taking me back forty years…"

"To Vietnam…" she finished for him.

"Yeah," he nodded.

"Why?" she asked simply. "Because they are Vietnamese? I remember a few years ago…that case with the laundry workers. Gil had one and I had the other but they turned out to be related. You kind of had an extra sense in that one…"

Jim shrugged again. "They were from Laos, but there was just something off about the body language… my instincts just told me that something was off. Maybe this one is just reminding me of my time in country…but, there's something about the father… I can't explain it…"

"He reminds you of someone you knew there?"

A sad smirk formed at the corner of Jim's mouth. "Reminds me of a lot of somebodys I knew there… and the vic; his name was Trang. There was a family in the village where I spent my last nine months; their name was Trang. But it's a common name…"

Catherine was intrigued. Jim rarely spoke of his previous life, preferring to leave it in the past. But occasionally he would open up and give her a glimpse, as he was doing now. "You lived in a village while you were there?"

"What? You thought I slept in the trees?' He chuckled.

"No…but, well, I guess I hadn't really thought much about it but I always thought the guys were either in those little camps or in the cities."

She watched as his expression took on a far away look that she rarely saw. "I was part of a Marine Combined Action Program, or units were platoons, small and mobile. We never had more than fifteen men in the unit but by that last year, we were down to eight. The idea was to train the local PF to fight and then work in the villages, helping with repairs and civic projects… our unit built a small school. One of my buddies, Willie Hayes, and I helped the Trangs with some projects around their place. It really wasn't much more than a hut, but old Mama Trang made us feel at home, except when she was chasing me away from her daughter." He was smiling and Catherine sensed that there were some happy memories tucked in between the horrors of war.

Jim paused and grinned as some memory passed in his mind's eye. Catherine watched and wondered what he was thinking about. "So, this family…the Trangs , you got close to them…especially the daughter."

His blue eyes looked up at her, startled. "Yeah…yeah I guess I did. The oldest son was with the PF and trained with us. He was killed in a skirmish about two months after I got there. I was with Kerr, my sergeant, when he delivered the news to the old man. The younger son wanted to join us then but the father wouldn't allow it. He snuck off and joined a PF unit at a neighboring village. There was a younger son, just a boy…maybe six or seven… and the daughter, An."

The look of hurt and regret that fell across his face as he mentioned her name caught Catherine's attention. There was a story there, she knew. But she waited for him to continue.

"Willie Hayes, one of my buddies, was killed a month before we left," he said sadly. "He was from Memphis and had a soft drawl…not like those imitation Southern accents you hear on TV. He'd sing blues for us and some of the songs coming out of Memphis in those days…sometimes I can still hear him singing; he had a good voice. He saved my ass more than once…"

"I'll bet you saved his a time or two as well," she offered.

Jim looked up at her. "Yeah, I suppose. I was just a kid… scared as hell and just trying to stay alive. We all saved each other a time or two. But there were some we couldn't save…too many," he ended softly.

So there was you and the sergeant, Kerr? And Willie…who else?"

Jim closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "At the end, besides me and Kerr, there was only Savoie, Brown, Cruz, and Conrad. Savoie was from Louisiana and was the life of the party, but he knew how to fight and was a good shot. Brown was from Texas. Sometimes Nick reminds me of him…had that same easy nature and spoke with a twang like Nick does sometimes. Cruz was Native American and Hispanic from Arizona. His hunting and tracking skills helped us more than once. Conrad was from California…real bad ass with a chip on his shoulder. He was the most racist Black man I've ever met.

Another guy, Hector Ruiz was from California too. He'd grown up in L.A. His father took him down and signed him up for the Marines as soon as he was old enough to get him out of there and away from the Hispanic gangs that were popping up. We lost him a week before we left." Jim paused, deep in reflection. "I visited his folks when I went through San Diego, on my way home. His father cried but he said at least his boy died a hero instead of trash in the streets."

Jim shook his head. "To me dead just seemed like dead. Now that I have a kid who probably will die like trash in the streets, I think I know what he meant…but still…." He shrugged and looked up at Catherine. The tears sitting in his eyes weren't unnoticed by her. "I'm sorry, Jim," she said. "I didn't mean to dredge up bad memories."

"They've been surfacing since this case began," he told her.

"What about the girl…An, you said was her name?"

A bittersweet smile crept across his face as he looked back. "I was in love with her…or at least as much as a horny, scared kid can be in love. Wanted to marry her but my CO wouldn't approve it." Old anger resurfaced as he remembered his CO's words. "So I had to leave her behind. Went back in the 90's, when we established relations with Vietnam again and it opened to U.S. travelers. I even went back to the village but she and her family were all gone. One of the villagers told me they'd been relocated by the Communists."

"Do you think you would have …I dunno…rekindled the romance, if she'd still been there?" Catherine was curious.

Jim shook his head. "She probably got married and has a family. Hell, she's probably got grandkids and maybe even great grandkids by now. But it would have been nice to see her again."

"Yeah," Catherine said with a chuckle. "It's always good to see your old flames…see the bullet you dodged."

Jim looked at her contemplatively. "Maybe. But…I'm not sure I'm glad I dodged that bullet." Catherine looked at him speechless. Jim shrugged. "I don't know how things would have turned out, but I've never really forgotten her and… in all honestly, I married Nancy because I was lonely and knew I'd never have An."

Catherine felt her jaw drop, just slightly but still her shock registered with Jim. "What? You think I'm not capable of real love?" he asked jokingly.

"No, I do…I know you are… I mean, you've got a big heart, Jim…behind that tough guy act. But I guess I always thought you really loved your wife and that's why the break-up hit you so hard."

"I did love her…just not enough or in the right way. If I had, I would've been home more and maybe things would have been better between us. Somehow I think she knew it…that I was still in love with somebody else." The corner of his mouth twitched slightly as he continued. "Hell, I think I still am…at least with the girl from 40 years ago. No telling how I'd feel about the woman today."

Catherine chuckled. "She'd probably find you've changed a bit from the what…twenty year old, cocky, kid from Jersey..."

Jim grinned. "Cocky describes me pretty good back then…in a lot of ways," he said with a mischievous gleam in his eye.

Catherine stood to leave, laughing. "Still does…in a lot of ways," she said as she walked out.

"When you are sorrowful look again in your heart,
and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight."

Kahlil Gibran

As always, your comments are most appreciated.