Martin knocks loudly on the door to Jack's apartment.
"Jack, are you in there? It's Martin," he shouts through the door. "His car's outside. He should be in there," he comments to Viv.
"Maybe he's passed out or something. I'll get the super to let us in," says Viv, as she walks back down the hall.
Martin continues to knock and call Jack.
"Anything?" Viv asks, as she returns with the building super.
"Nothing," Martin replies. "We'll take it from here, thanks," he says to the super, they enter the apartment.
From the moment they enter, its obvious something's happened in the apartment.
"Shit," says Martin, reaching for his weapon. "Jack, are you there?" he shouts as he searches room to room.
"He's not here," Viv says, as she looks around at the mess. The t.v. is still on, juice spilt on the rug, Jack's coat and gun are right where he left them. Then she sees the blood.
"Martin," she calls and she looks down at the ground.
"What the hell happened here?" Martin asks.
"I don't know, but we'd better call it in," Viv replies. "Looks like Jack's in trouble."
Van Doren Office, F.B.I. Headquarters.
"Hello." Van Doren answers her phone. "Sorry, what did you say? What Agent? I've the Deputy Director with me now. I'll tell him. Thanks."
"Problems?" Victor Fitzgerald asks.
"One of our Agents is missing. It looks like he may have been taken," Van Doren tells him.
"Who is it?" Victor enquires, hoping she's not going to say his son.
"Jack Malone. He didn't show up for work today, so some of his team went to his apartment. They found blood and signs of a struggle," Van Doren continues.
"Bloody Jack Malone. We still have to look for him I suppose," Victor remarks. There's no love lost between Jack and Victor. They've always butted heads when it came to their approach to getting things done.
Van Doren is somewhat surprised by Victor's remarks, but lets it slide.
"Well, his team can't work on it. I'll assign it to Mark Lewis' team. They have experience with this type of thing," she suggests.
"Sure. If there's anything I can do, let me know," Victor offers as he leaves Van Doren's office.
"Thanks," she says graciously as she calls her secretary. "Carol, get me Mark Lewis on the phone urgently, please."
Back on the 12th Floor, Jack's team are anxiously trying to deal with the fact that their boss is missing.
"It's obvious someone's taken him," Martin tells them. "But what do they want? I mean, why Jack? Has he been kidnapped or was it a robbery gone wron? Jesus, we have to find him," he goes on.
"Calm down, Martin. We can't be sure of anything right now. We have to stay objective and can't allow or emotions get in the way of finding him. We will find him," Danny says, trying to calm his friend.
"No you won't," interrupts Special Agent Mark Lewis, as he enters the office. "Van Doren's assigned this case to me. Look, I know how worried you all are, but you're too close to this. I'll keep you up to speed, you can even help out, but we're taking the lead on this."
Martin, Danny, Sam and Viv didn't want to admit it but they all knew he was right, and they were glad it was him. He had a fine reputation and trained with Jack, so he knew him quite well.
"Right. Let's get to work then," he orders.
Derelict ChurchBack in the church, Jack sleeps on and off. Its freezing and he uses the blankets that were left, as well as some of the garments from the wardrobe, to try and keep warm. As he wakes, he hears footsteps approaching and the door opens.
A tall man with huge broad shoulders enters. He's holding a gun in one hand and take-away food in the other.
"Stay where you are, Malone. I'd hate to have to kill you so soon," he sneers.
"Who are you? What do you want with me?" Jack demands.
"We don't want you, Jack. You're just a means to an end," he tells him.
"Really. What are you looking for? Money? You know the FBI won't pay a ransom. That's not how they do things," Jack tells him.
"Don't flatter yourself, Jack. What do you think you're worth?" he laughs. "It's not what we want, Jack, it's more like who we want."
"What? Let me guess, some low life to be released, right?" Jack asks.
"God, you're good Jack," mocks his captor. "Maybe you know our friend, Miguel Ortega. Ring any bells?"
"Ortega…..Hah! I see" laughs Jack, immediately recognising the name. "You know there's not a chance in hell they'll let him walk," Jack informs him.
"We'll see. Enjoy your food," his captor replies.
"You haven't got any pain killers, I suppose?" Jack asks.
"Aah, you not feeling too good, Jackie boy? What do you think we are, a pharmacy?" sneers the guy as he shuts the door.
I'm in big trouble this time, Jack thinks to himself. He looks at the food. Hunger was the last thing on his mind, so he just sipped the soda and waited.
F.B.I. Headquarters – 24 hours missing"Anything new?" Danny enquires from Lewis. It had been a long day and an even longer night. None of the team managed to get much sleep.
"One resident near Jack's building, saw a man being helped to a car that night. Two guys were helping a third guy. The witness just thought that the guy was drunk. Could've been Jack, if he's hurt. Didn't get a description though," Lewis tells him.
Just then, Lewis' phone rings.
He answers. "Lewis. Yea. When? Where'd they take him? Okay, thanks. We'll be right down."
Lewis hangs up and looks into the enquiring eyes of each team member. This wasn't going to be easy, he thought.
"What is it?" Sam asks impatiently, breaking his train of thought.
"A body, matching Jack's description, was found two hours ago on waste ground, just off the freeway. They want someone to go to the morgue to identify the body," he tells them.
A stunned silence descends.
"No! It can't be!!" Sam shouts and runs towards the restroom.
Martin just sinks back into his chair and holds his head in his hands. Viv fights to keep her composure. Danny just gets angry and punches the white board. Lewis does his best to try and comfort them.
"Look, it might not be him. They want someone to do the I.D. I'll go," he offers.
"I'll go with you," Danny volunteers. "We'll call you," he says to his devastated friends.
City Morgue"I hate these places," Lewis says, looking around the sterile looking room.
"Me too," mumbles Danny.
The morgue technician wheels in the gurney with the body covered in a white sheet.
"What was the cause of death?" Lewis asks.
"The P.M. hasn't been carried out but looks like the gunshot wound to the head did it," the technician answers.
"You ready to do this?" Lewis asks Danny.
"Not really, but go ahead," he replies.
The technician removes the sheet from the victims face. They both look hard at the body and then at each other.
"It's not him! It's not him!" Danny repeats, excitedly. "Thank God."
Lewis turns to the technician and says "Its not our boy, thank God."
Danny quickly phones the office and gives the good news. The team don't know whether to laugh or cry. The body wasn't Jack's, but they still had no leads.
Derelict ChurchBack in his cell, Jack is joined by his captors, this time by both of them.
"Hold this," the smaller of the two orders him, as he shoves a copy of today's newspaper into his face. Jack catches a glimpse of the headline. He hadn't made the front page, but the murder of a Catholic priest in his church had. He tried to hold the paper, as best he could.
The big guy took a Polaroid of Jack holding the newspaper.
"They'll want to know you're still alive," he tells him.
"You're wasting your time. I told you, they won't negotiate," Jack shouts at them as they lock him in again.
The exertion brought on a fit of coughing. His ribs hurt like hell when he coughed. Then he brought up blood.
"That's not good," he said to himself when he got his breath back. He sat back down and hoped that one of his team would understand his subtle message.