Previously:

"He was already gone," David bit out angrily, slamming a fist against one of the boards.

"He was in our building!" Colby was equally infuriated.

Amita placed a hand on each of their shoulders. "We'll get her back."

The Madness of Megan Reeves

Chapter Seven: Where in the World is Megan Reeves?

She blinked as a bright light flashed in front of her eyes. Slowly, Marchesi's cruel, laughing face came into focus. He had a camera in his left hand. That accounted for the flash. Megan tried to move away from him, but she couldn't. She pulled with her arms and looked up to fin that each wrist was handcuffed to a bed post. She pulled at her legs. Same situation. An ankle was cuffed to each of the posts at the bottom of the bed. There was a disgusting-tasting gag in her mouth. Marchesi cackled at her, and Megan felt helpless. She was entirely at his mercy.

"Don't worry." He grinned. "We'll have lots of fun before I kill you."

There was no doubt in Megan's mind that he was serious.

Marchesi moved so that he was standing right next to her. He ran a finger down the buttons of her blouse. "I'm a big fan of buttons. It makes things much easier."

She shuddered at his touch and his words. She knew exactly what was going to happen next.

He was suddenly straddling Megan's hips, ripping her blouse open. He sliced through the sleeves to circumvent uncuffing her. The knife left little knicks all over her arms. Marchesi threw the shirt over his shoulder and looked down at her chest. "Oh, I like this."

Megan cursed herself for her choice in bras today. It was a pretty light blue one with little dark blue butterflies all over it. She had worn it to cheer herself up; now it was just another delight for Marchesi.

"I think we'll leave this on for a while."

Thank God.

He moved down her body, touching her everywhere until he reached what he had come for. Megan closed her eyes to avoid seeing him as he popped the snap on her jeans.

Over the next two days, pictures of Megan showed up everywhere. They were at Don's, David's, and Colby's apartments, Cal-Sci, and Charlie's house. Alan was distraught to find a picture of the woman he saw as a daughter covered in her own blood. Several more photos came directly to the FBI, but Marchesi was smart enough not to bring them himself. Marchesi's messengers all thought they were doing the right thing giving something to the FBI. They had no idea what was in the brown envelopes. By the time the FBI swarmed the place where a would-be good Samaritan had met the monster, he had already vanished.

Don, Colby, and David became more agitated with each passing hour. They and Anderson's team were going through hours of video tape of Marchesi's known locations. It was giving them nothing. The man always managed to disappear from view. Occasionally Amita had to gently escort the men from the room with the white boards to give Charlie peace. Thankfully, the mathematician's equilibrium had returned and he was dashing feverishly between the boards, working around the clock. The only sleep he had gotten after their harrowing flight had been in the car on the way from the landing strip to the FBI. Only when Amita and Don forced him to take a nap on the couch did he take a few minutes to rest and allow Amita to work in his place. She had proved invaluable to Charlie but couldn't process the numbers as quickly as her mentor and boyfriend could.

Finally, a few minutes past ten on Wednesday night, Charlie and Amita burst from their room, satisfied grins on their faces, their eyes sparkling with excitement.

"We've got it," Amita announced triumphantly.

"It took us longer than the original Reeves variation with the Hoyle case because the data we had was much older," Charlie explicated. "We had to add in another couple of analyses as well."

Don made a hurrying gesture with his hand. For once, Charlie felt no annoyance that Don didn't want to listen to his explanation. He hadn't planned on giving one. Time was of the essence.

Amita grinned as Charlie handed over a piece of paper with eight addresses written on it. "The first four are abandoned warehouses off 18th street," she said. "They had high probabilities only because of the tips that came from your snitches. They wouldn't have come up otherwise."

"You'll have to hit all of those at once," recommended Charlie. "They're close enough together that he might hear you and run of he's not in the first one."

Don nodded thoughtfully, his mind already planning. He turned to David. "Get a team together to hit these. Get as many SWAT as possible. Then add FBI and LAPD. I want as many on this as we can get."

Amita spoke again. "The next two are little shops. If one of those is correct, he'll have Megan in the store rooms below the main floors."

Colby and Don looked at her as if she had grown another head.

"I worked in the book shop for a few years in college," she clarified. "I know the layout really well. Both streets are very secluded, so either location would be ideal."

"One of the remaining locations is a house in a middle-class neighborhood. I'm not sure why it had such a high probability, but it might be significant."

"Charlie, that's only a few blocks from here," David pointed out.

Charlie nodded. The locations spiral in toward the FBI building. I think the location he's chosen is based on this building. I don't know why, but it seems that the FBI is his base. All the places he's found people to bring us pictures are evenly spaced, and this is the center of that circle."

The agents didn't know what to say.

Amita continued, "The last location is Cal-Sci. We believe it came up because Marchesi has been known to take girls from college campuses, and we know he's been there several times to leave us pictures. We think it's unlikely that he's actually keeping Megan there."

Don nodded again as David returned. "Okay, I'm going to head the team to the first warehouse. David, you head the second. Colby, you've got the third. Jason Anderson can have the last. Then Jason will take his team and set up surveillance at Cal-Sci. David, take the book store. I'll cover the hardware store, and Colby, I want you to raid the house." He turned to David. "Is SWAT ready?"

David nodded in affirmation. "They're standing by at the warehouses."

"Did you divide them into four teams?"

"Yes."

Don clapped him on the shoulder. "Good work, David. Charlie, Amita, can you two hang out until we get back?"

"Of course," Amita answered. "Just call us when you find her."

Don grabbed Anderson and the four left the building with several other agents behind them.

Megan hurt all over. After he had pulled her pants back up, Marchesi had beaten Megan into unconsciousness. She was just beginning to wake again and was not happy about it. She hated feeling so helpless.

"Jason?"

"In position."

"Colby?"

"In position, Don."

"David?"

"In position."

"Okay, on my count. Three…two…one! Execute, execute, execute!"

The teams burst into the four warehouses simultaneously. Shouts of "Clear!" echoed through the night.

Don cursed. All they had found were a couple of squatters looking for a place to sleep.

David swore. No sign on Megan anywhere. Nothing but a couple of rats the size of small ponies for their trouble. He had prayed that they would find her here. They had to get her back.

Colby muttered profanities under his breath. No Megan. Not a trace. He was pissed. And terrified.

"Nothing, Don," he relayed.

"We're clear here," David called in.

"Not a thing here either," Don reported disgustedly. "Jason? What about you?"

"Don, you need to see this…"

Before he had even finished his sentence, all three agents were running for Jason's warehouse, their hearts pounding.

AN: Ooh, I like this cliffie!