No, it's not an illusion. This is actually a new chapter. Been really busy with work and all that but I finally got inspired and wrote you a new chapter. Enjoy.

Chapter 9

Sam squinted at the computer screen in front of her. She had been sitting at her desk in her new PI firm McCall Investigations she had opened almost two months before for three hours looking at frame-by-frame footage searching for the van the kidnappers that had taken Jake may had used.

Three hours and she had a good view of the driver. A driver who looked somewhat familiar to her but the picture was a little too blurry for her to be absolutely sure.

With Spinelli working for her part-time, she had learned a lot of computer tricks she never knew about before and was given any software that Spinelli could get his hands on. Unfortunately she wasn't computer-savvy enough to figure out how to make the imaging program to fix the picture so she could see the driver's face clearly.

Jason had been convinced that it was enemies from his line of work but Sam didn't understand why or how most of them would know about Jake being his son since it wasn't really supposed to be public knowledge. But, now, with this blurry image in front of her, she too now believed it was his enemies. Jason suspected the Zaccharas. Looking at the face before her, her heart filled with worry because she had a feeling that they would be facing a worse enemy than even the twisted Zaccharas.

She pulled out a blank DVD and burned the files. When the software was done making the video of the DVD she put the disc in a case and dropped it in her purse. She grabbed her coat and headed out the door, locking her office behind her.

Jason sat on the couch as Spinelli typed away at his computer. He didn't know what the younger man was doing but he hoped he found something that would lead him to his son.

"I told you this would happen!" Elizabeth had screamed at him when he stopped by her house to get the details on what had happened.

"Once again your son is paying for your stupid decisions," she had wailed while Lucky literally held her together.

He hadn't argued with her, knowing that defending himself would only make things worse. All he wanted was to find Jake and bring him home safely. But he needed Elizabeth's and Lucky's help in order to do that.

Elizabeth had been out with both Cameron and Jake. She had decided to take them the long way to the park, a route that was very isolated. Halfway there, men had jumped out of a van parked nearby and held a gun on her and Cameron. Another person had approached the stroller and taken Jake with a warning: "You even breathe and I will snap his neck right here."

So she had literally watched while the person she had told him was probably a woman based on the sound of her voice and the shape of her body stole her son and put him in the back of a van. The other three had kept the guns on her and Cameron long after the van was out of sight and told her to go back home.

Jason had immediately suspected the Zaccharas. He didn't know why but the careless disregard for innocent lives reeked of the patriarch, Anthony.

"What are you still doing here?" Elizabeth demanded of him, suddenly strong with anger and grief, pulled herself out of Lucky's arm. She gave Jason a slight shove towards the door. "Get out there and find my baby," she had ordered stonily.

"Please, Jason," Lucky had called him as he was about to leave. Jason had turned around and saw the grief he was feeling mirrored in the other man's eyes. "Just bring him home."

"And after that, don't you ever come back here again." Elizabeth said frostily.

So here he was sitting helplessly as he waited for Spinelli to find something useful. A couple of knocks sounded on the door. He was on his feet immediately and strode to the door. He opened it and was surprised to see Sam standing there with a determined look on her face. Right away his heart filled with hope.

He started to ask her if she had come across something when he noticed she wasn't looking at him. No, her gaze was zeroed in on Spinelli at the desk. He stepped aside, allowing her entry and she strode past him and immediately stopped by Spinelli. She whipped a case out of her purse.

"Stop whatever you're doing now." She told him insistently and took the mouse from his hand and closed the program before Spinelli even had a chance to react.

"Goddess, do you have any idea what you've just done?" Spinelli sputtered as he watched hours of work disappear with a careless click of a mouse. "It took me hours to find that and the program was working on scanning every picture for a series of numbers that might lead to the van."

Sam didn't acknowledge his complaints. She merely pulled the chair that he was in away from the desk so she could have access to the computer. Jason caught the roller chair with Spinelli in it before it smacked into the adjacent wall.

Sam popped the DVD she held into the tray. "It was a waste of time," she finally addressed them and then a window with the DVD's contents popped up. She got right to work looking through the video footage Jason realized was of the road that Jake had been abducted on.

He could already see Elizabeth heading into view with Jake in a stroller and Cameron walking right beside her. Sam clicked past to just past the kidnapping. A blurry image of the van driver came on screen and she finally stepped away from the computer.

She pointed to the screen. "This is what I need you to work on."

Spinelli rolled over to the computer and looked at the picture before him curiously. "How did the Goddess come upon this?"

"Traffic cameras were placed around all routes to the park last year." Sam reminded them simply. Now, she turned to Jason as she spoke. "I think I know who that is. If Spinelli can make the image clearer, I'm sure I'll be able to put a name to the face."

Jason glanced at the laptop that Spinelli was now hunched over and clicking away. He then looked back at Sam and felt such a swell of gratitude that he couldn't help but reach for her hand, giving it a light squeeze. "How long did it take you to find that?" he wondered.

Sam allowed him to hold her hand while she nervously pushed a lock of hair back behind her ear. "A few hours," she said and bit her lip. She watched Spinelli working. "I know how much you hate feeling helpless while you wait for Spinelli to find something." She cleared her throat and stared down at the floor as she shrugged. "I figured I might as well lend a hand to speed things along." His grip on her hand tightened.

"Thank you." He told her meaningfully and she looked up at the emotion in his voice. She noticed the sparks of fear in his eyes and walked over to him, reaching out her arms for a hug awkwardly. It took a second for Jason to react and he pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her and burying his head in her hair. "I can't lose him."

"You won't," she whispered soothingly, reaching up to cup his cheek. "You're going to find Jake and bring him home safe and sound. I know it."

He pulled away. "How can you be so sure?"

She smirked. "He's your son and you love him. That's how I know." She walked a few feet away from Spinelli and sat down on the couch. "And when Jake is home, the people that took him will be dealt with."

Jason grunted in agreement and marvelled at the way she spoke. Her words left no misunderstanding her intent. She understood him more than he could ever give her credit for and more importantly, she didn't look the least bit troubled about the fate she knew his son's kidnappers would be dealt.

"The Jackal has been successful in his attempt to unmask the blurry one." Spinelli announced and turned to them. He waved them over and gestured to the screen.

Jason came over and studied the picture, not recognizing the man.

Sam came forward and sighed heavily. "I know him. His name is Ivan. Don't know his last name."

"How does the Fair Goddess know such a villain?" Spinelli inquired.

"When I was piloting boats for the Russian Syndicate, he was around a lot," she said, nodding her head in certainty at the face. "He wasn't part of the crew though. He showed up whenever there was a security problem and a lot of the times he was accompanied by Sasha Danev."

Jason held his head between his hands. "She was right. This is my fault."

"Fair Elizabeth was emotional, Stone Cold." Spinelli tried to soothe Jason's guilt. "You mustn't take anything she said to heart."

"Jake was kidnapped because of me." Jason said.

Sam rolled her eyes. "Jason, it's not your fault." She told him seriously.

"Sam, the Russians kidnapped him to get leverage on me." He pointed to the picture of Ivan on the screen. "They have my son."

"They don't know he's your son," Sam reminded him and then blocked his view of Ivan. "Don't let Elizabeth blame your for her reckless behaviour."

"You think this is Elizabeth's fault?" Jason asked incredulously.

Sam scoffed. "Why do you think they took Jake?" She threw her hands up in the air. "They obviously think you're a threat so they wanted to piss you off. They know Elizabeth is something to you and she wouldn't stay away from you even after you and everyone else told her it was too dangerous. The Russians took Jake because he is innocent and because he is Elizabeth's son."

"I know you don't think very highly of her," Jason began and Sam glared at him dangerously.

"She blames you for Jake being kidnapped but the fact is that she is the one that put Jake in their sights." Sam narrowed her eyes in anger at Elizabeth for the guilt and pain she could see in Jason's eyes. "Her obsession with you is what put her son in the line of fire or whatever and since she can never acknowledge her own mistakes, she's going to blame it all on someone else."

She let that sink in for a few minutes and then blew out a breath. "Now let's get back to the matter at hand, shall we?"