Lewis marches into the incident room waving an envelope.
"This was delivered to Van Doren's office an hour ago. Its Jack," he says as he passes the photograph around.
"His captors are looking for the release of a guy called Miguel Ortega from custody and for him to be given safe passage to McKinley airfield. They say if Ortega's not released in 48 hours, Jack will be killed."
The team digest what Lewis just told them.
"God, Jack looks pretty beaten up. At least we know he's alive though," Martin comments as he examines the photo. "Have forensics examined the photo yet?"
"They have the original. This is a copy," Lewis informs him.
Martin takes the photo and places it on the incident board. They each examine it.
"Hey, look at his hand," Sam notices.
"Yeah. Looks like a makeshift sling," Martin answers.
"No, his other hand. Is he pointing to something?" she asks.
They each lean in closer.
"Maybe? Something in the paper, perhaps?" Viv suggest.
"Get me a copy of today's Times," Lewis shouts.
Danny asks around the office and soon returns with a copy of the newspaper. They spread out the front page.
"Is he pointing to the article about the murdered priest?" asks Viv.
"Could be. Let me see the photo again," asks Lewis. He examines it again.
"That sling….look at it. Looks like its got gold crosses on it. Is it a religious garment?"
"Could be," says Samantha. "So, is he trying to tell us that he's in a church?" she asks.
"A church," Viv answers. "You know you could be right. Look at the picture again, see that wardrobe, its very ornate. That blocked up window could be a church window, I suppose."
"Well let's work on that. It's the best lead we've had all day," Lewis suggests.
"Do you have any idea how many churches are in this city?" Danny asks.
"No, but I'm guessing lots. So lets narrow it down. They have to be holding him in a disused church. Activity would have to go unnoticed. Call the archbishop's office and see if they can identify any derelict or disused churches in the city. Also, find out about those closed for renovations," Lewis asks them.
"It's worth a shot," Viv says as she moves towards her desk. The rest of the team get to work, doing what they do best.
Derelict ChurchJack lies, shivering in the cold, damp room. His chest is sore and each breath is painful. He knows that he's sick and begins to wonder if he's going to come out of this situation alive. His mind wanders to his kids and Maria. How would she explain to them, what happened to him? How would his little girls cope? Hannah and little Kate, they're too young to have to deal with losing their Dad. He couldn't let it happen. He just had to fight with every ounce of strength he had left…..for their sake. He drifts off into a deep sleep.
F.B.I. HeadquartersWork is steady and the team have narrowed the number of possible churches to 40. They requested the assistance of the NYPD to help search the churches.
It crossed Viv's mind that no one had called Maria. She was living in Chicago now but was still, technically, Jack's next of kin. She volunteered to do it, having been friendly with Maria while she was married to Jack.
She dials the number that Jack had on his personnel file.
Maria answers, "Hello."
"Hi Maria, Its Vivienne Johnson."
"Oh, hello Viv. How are you? Is everything okay?" Maria asks, sensing something was wrong.
"Have you seen the news yet today?" Viv asks her.
"No…oh God. What's happened? Is it Jack?" she pleads.
"He's missing, Maria. He's been taken hostage. The guys holding him are looking for the Justice Department to release a prisoner in exchange for Jack's life," Viv tells her.
"Right. They'll do it, won't they?" Maria asks.
"Honestly, it's not something they'd normally do, Maria. We're following a few leads. We'll find him before the deadline," Viv promises.
"And if you don't?" Maria asks.
"We will. We have to. I have to go, but I'll call you as soon as we have any news," Viv tells her before she hangs up.
Derelict Church.
"Hey, Malone. On you feet," shouts Luis, the smaller of the two kidnappers. Jack moans and rolls over. It's obvious that he's struggling to breathe.
"Malone, did you hear me? I said "Get up"," he shouts, as he kicks Jack in the guts.
Jack curls up and adopts a foetal position. He makes no attempt to get up.
"Paolo, I think this guys sick. Come here," he shouts out to his partner.
"What's wrong with him?" Paolo asks, as he walks in the room.
"I don't know. I'm not a doctor. He doesn't sound too good. Looks like he's got a fever too. What'll we do? If he dies, we'll never get Miguel," Luis realises.
"I'll get some painkillers. You get him to take them. Keep him alive for another day. That's all we need," Paolo says. "I have to call the F.B.I and arrange the handover. You stay with him for a while. Keep an eye on him."
F.B.I. HeadquartersA call is put through to the incident room. Lewis signals for quiet in the room.
"It's him. Ready?" he asks, as he nods to the technician beside him.
"Times running out boys. Agent Malone's getting restless. Six p.m. tomorrow. Ortega must arrive at McKinley Airfield in a vehicle alone. We will be watching. If he's alone, Malone will be put into the same car and released. If we see any signs of tailing or surveillance, Malone will be shot," the caller tells them and then abruptly hangs up.
"You get him?" Lewis asks the tech.
"Not an exact location, but the call was made from the North Eastern area of the city," the tech answers, shaking his head.
"Damn! Okay then, lets narrow down our list of churches accordingly," he orders the team.
Just then another agent shouts across the room "Agent Lewis, there's a call for you on line 8."
He picks it up.
"Special Agent Mark Lewis, what can I do for you?" he answers.
"Agent Lewis, this is Captain Wheaton from the 14th Precinct. We've been checking out some of those churches like you asked and we may have the one your looking for. It's St. Andrew's Church on Stephen's Street. We were asking around and it seems there's been two guys in and out over the last week or so. They've been seen bringing in food and beers and stuff. We thought we'd hang back until you got here," the policeman tells him.
"Good work. We'll be right down. Stay out of sight. We don't want to spook them," Lewis advises him. He then shouts to the team. "OK, guys, saddle up. NYPD have a possible church for us to check out. Lets go."
Outside St. Andrew's Church.
A number of black sedans pull up in the surrounding streets. The agents observe the church from a distance. It looks abandoned. The windows are boarded up and any glass remaining is broken. It fits the criteria.
"So how do we do it?" asks Martin.
"Quietly. Two around the back, two in the front. Body armour on, okay? Maintain radio silence once inside. If they're in there, don't engage them unless you've no alternative. Let's find Jack and bring him out alive. Danny and Martin, you take the back. Samantha, you're with me," he orders.
Inside St. Andrew's Church
Luis and Paolo are oblivious to the activity outside. They sit smoking in the vestry.
"You'd better check on him," Paolo suggests.
Luis opens the door to the room where Jack is being held.
"You dead yet, Malone?" he laughs as he walks in and stands over Jack.
The wheezing and rasping confirm to him that Jack's still alive. Barely.
Luis emerges and closes the door behind him, unaware of the two sets of eyes watching him from the darkness.
Danny and Martin have made their way into the church through the rear door. They watch him lock the door and head back to his mate. They look at each other and nod, each understanding the other's intentions.
Slowly, with weapons drawn, they inch towards the door. They are grateful to see that Luis has left the key in the lock. Quietly Martin turns the key and pushes the door in. In the darkness they see a figure lying motionless on the mattress. The only sound is a terrible rasping coming from Jack.
Danny kneels by Jack, while Martin keeps watch at the door.
"Jack! Can you hear me? It's Danny. Can you get up?" he asks him, as he feels his forehead.
"He's burning up, completely out of it. I'll have to try and carry him," Danny quietly tells Martin.
"Can you? Maybe we should just wait for back up," Martin suggests.
"I'm not sure Jack can wait. He's really struggling to breathe," Danny informs him.
"Okay then. I'll cover you," Martin offers.
Danny struggles to lift Jack. With a little help from Martin, he manages to get Jack onto his shoulder in a fireman's lift. Jack groans. As they're leaving, Danny stumbles under the dead weight he is carrying.
Unfortunately, Paolo and Luis hear the noise and each grab their weapon and look at each other. They can see movement in the shadows. Paolo raises his gun and shoots into the darkness.
The shots alert Lewis and Samantha, who were making their way slowly up the aisle of the church.
"Move it, Danny," Martin shouts, as another shot rings out. This time Martin returns fire. Luis then fires his automatic weapon. Danny's almost at the exit when he turns to look for Martin. He sees Martin go down.
"Martin!" he shouts as he reaches the door
Martin coughs and rolls on the ground. He's winded. Luckily, his vest saved him. He locates his gun and fires just as Luis comes into sight and releases another volley of shots at the door. Martin hits Luis and he falls to the ground. At that instant, Danny & Jack burst through into the sunlight.
Danny feels a burning pain in his side and drops to his knees, unceremoniously dumping Jack to the ground. He realises that he's been hit. He leans over Jack, to check if he's breathing. He's hugely relieved to find that he is.
He radio's in his position and requests urgent medical assistance and back up.
"This is Taylor. I need urgent medical assistance to the rear of St. Andrew's Church. I have Agent Malone, Fitzgerald is down and I'm injured myself."
"Roger that. Help is on the way," comes the response.
"Hurry, okay. Jack's in a bad way."
He rolls Jack into the recovery position and then he sits back and puts pressure on his own wound. Just then an ashen-faced Martin stumbles through the church door.
"You okay?" Danny asks with surprise. "I thought they'd got you."
"They did," he answers as he taps his vest. "Sore ribs, that's all. Are you okay?"
"I will be. Got nicked, that's all. It's Jack I'm worried about," he answers, as he looks over at his injured boss.
Just then further shots ring out from inside the church. Martin goes back in to see if he can help Sam and Lewis. By the time he gets there, it's all over. Paolo is lying on his back in a pool of blood.
"Where's Jack?" Sam asks anxiously.
"Out the back with Danny. He's in bad shape and Danny got shot. He's okay though. They're waiting on the medics," Martin informs her.
As they go through to the rear of the church, the ambulance arrives. The paramedics assess each of the injured men.
One of them assists Danny into the ambulance, then they load Jack onto a stretcher and put him in as well.
"We'll follow you there," Martin shouts just before the doors close and the ambulance pull away, sirens blaring.