Without A Trace - Paternity Eternal

Summary: Another day, another case...but its Martin who's missing. Is the team ready for the secrets they will divulge?

Disclaimer: I own nothing...unfortunately

Author's Note: I've been trying to write this like an episode and so I haven't written much from Martin's POV...I decided to change that this chapter ;) And it's the quick update I promised! :D

Chapter Seven: Maple Street

14.5 Hours Missing

Martin was in pain. He had been for God knew how long now, but it was becoming too much. The niggling craving for the pain meds he had finally managed to suppress about a year ago had come back full force. He knew he had to get over it. He couldn't go back to how he'd been...not now he had Anya.

Anya. Martin could see her smiling eight year old face grin goofily at him. He could hear her laughter echo in his ears even though she wasn't there. He had to get home. He had to make sure she was alright.

He applied more pressure to the gunshot wound in a meagre attempt to stop the steady flow of blood. He could tell that he had lost too much from the waves of dizziness that hit him the second he attempted to move.

He looked over at the windows, realising that sunlight no longer broke through the gaps in the curtains. There had been sunlight when he'd sent Andy to go get help. But that could have been days ago for all Martin knew. What if Andy hadn't kept his promise? What if he had just run away and no one knew anything?

Something had happened after Andy left. Martin had blacked out from a mix of pain and blood loss, and when he'd woken up he had been in this place. It was a different room, and Martin was pretty sure it was a different house. That meant that even if Andy had gone to the FBI they still wouldn't know where he was.

They were never gonna find him, and that scared the living crap out of him.

Outside the window of the interview room, Sam sighed and wrung her hands with worry. It had been two and a half hours, as Danny had so helpfully pointed out. They could have done anything in that time. They might not even have moved him, just...cut their losses. She cringed at the thought and saw that Jessie was thinking the same.

Jack, who was standing next to her, rubbed his tired face for about the fifth time that day. He placed a hand on Sam's back to comfort her.

"Edward and Jason Hartley," interrupted Vivian as she came back from the bullpen, a file open in her hands. "They've been suspects in several cases, but never arrested. Mostly kidnapping for ransom and assault charges, though nothings ever stuck."

"Is there an address?" asked Jack hopefully. Sam and Jessie listened in intrigued.

"Yep, 132 Maple Street," read Vivian from the sheet. Jessie gasped with recognition. "What did I say?"

"That's the address I had been given when I went to find them," she explained excitedly. She mentally kicked herself for not saying it before...but then again, no one had asked.

Sam smiled with anticipation. "That's about half an hour away from Spalding Street. They could easily have run there when Andy escaped."

"Let's go to Maple Street then."

Eddie stared hard at his younger brother, not believing what he was hearing. Had Jay honestly just given up? "Do you not want to find your daughter?"

Jay sighed sadly and shrugged. "We don't even know if she is my daughter Ed. This has gone too far."

"You didn't say that when I shot down the bitch." Eddie stated coldly. He placed a hand over the cold steel of the gun he had used and had stashed in his jeans. His fingers twitched with anticipation.

"I don't know Eddie, I...I can't do this okay. Let's just quit while we're ahead. That Andy guy has probably told the FBI everything they need. They're gonna show up any minute. I'm not going to prison."

"No Jay," replied Eddie sternly, trying to coerce and relax his brother. "Andy was a coward. He ran for it. He didn't go anywhere near the FBI. No one even knows the guys missing, let alone looking for him."

Jay matched Eddie's expression of grim determination. "I'm not going to take the chance. We end this now."

"No witnesses." Eddie flicked his eyes over to the closed door of the room they held their captive and picked up his weapon of choice that he had laid out on the counter. Jay nodded knowingly and followed his brother.

"No witnesses."

Martin could barely keep his eyes open anymore. He was so close to giving up. He couldn't move anymore. It required too much effort and caused too much pain. He was just about to give in to the darkness that beckoned when the door slammed open.

Hope made him think it was his team. His bleary vision told him it wasn't.

The tall bulky one, Eddie, entered first wielding something in his right hand. Jay followed, all nervousness gone from his appearance. He felt a tight grip on his shoulder as he was dragged to his feet.

He cried out in pain as they expected him to stand and went to collapse. Jay propped him up, holding him under his arms as Eddie leered at him.

From what seemed like a huge distance Martin heard someone shout "FBI! Open UP!"

But it was too late. Eddie smashed his weapon – a thick iron crowbar – hard against martin's skull. There was a second of blinding pain and bright white light followed by pure comforting darkness.

His limp body was dropped unceremoniously to the floor.

"FBI! Open Up!" shouted Jack as they stopped outside the door.

The street was full of flashing lights from the mass of police cars. Jack and his team had the house surrounded. It was situated in suburbia and several neighbours had ventured out of their houses to see what the kafuffle was about. When there was no reply, but just the sound of a muffled thump, Jack signalled for Danny to kick down the door.

They entered into the building, seemingly forgetting all the procedures they were meant to follow. The five of them; Jack, Danny, Sam, Vivian and Elena, headed straight for the front room where there was a door open and shouts coming from inside.

"Put the weapon down!" ordered Vivian as she spotted the crowbar in Eddie's hand. Amazingly Eddie did as she said, dropping the metal bar to the ground with a loud clatter.

But then he pulled out the gun.

Jay followed suit as he pulled out a 9mm hand gun he'd been hiding down the back of his jeans. They both spun to face the agents; and open fired.

Danny and Elena ducked back out of the room as the bullets ripped across the threshold. Jack knocked Sam down and out of the way to the right, as Vivian dove left. The hail of metal soared over their heads.

Checking round the door frame, Danny aimed at Eddie and fired, shooting him dead with a bullet to the chest.

Sam, from her place on the floor, found herself staring into the pale face of Martin. She gasped, just managing to stifle a sob. The blood from his head wound had covered half his face and continued to drip onto the puddle on the floor that surrounded his head. He wasn't breathing. She whispered in disbelief "No."

Jay watched his brother fall to the ground, knowing that he was dead before he had even hit the floor. Instantly he dropped his gun and put his hands up. Vivian stepped forward ordering him to get on his knees and put his hands behind his head. He guessed he was going to prison.

With the situation under control, Sam darted forward to kneel by Martin's side. She pressed a finger to his neck, attempting to find a pulse. "Martin? Can you hear me?"

Elena aided Vivian with the arrest and double checked that Eddie was indeed dead. Danny stood frozen just inside the doorway looking down at his friend. Jack took Sam by the shoulders from behind and rubbed them reassuringly.

Martin couldn't hear them.

And there I go again with my evil cliff-hanger *chuckles maniacally*