While Tara sat at her laptop, watching the screen for any irregular activity from her surveillance on White's visible activities, Mark and Steve went over the pinpoint areas on the map where White had made purchases. Myles and Dimitrius listened and gave their input. "Okay, this is the last location he's been recorded being at, right?" Mark asked.
"That's right." Dimitrius nodded.
"At least until we found out he's been watching the ladies." Myles added.
"Well, there's the park where he dumped Missy Frazier, so we know he was in the vicinity." Steve said, pointing at the map. They reviewed the placements of the victims, White's shopping list, and whatever else they could think of. "I hate to say this," Steve grumbled, "but we're still nowhere."
"The best we can tell is that each place White has visited in and out of LA has been within a forty miles radius." Mark stated.
"Yeah, and he could be hiding in any one of them." Steve huffed. "There's gotta be at least twenty-five thousand places he could be keeping Lucy, and we don't have a darn at all of where!"
"Has anyone given any thought to the possibility that White might not even be in California anymore?" Myles asked angrily. Everyone frowned and looked at him glumly. "I mean, he said he was going big next time, and now he has a member of the FBI. He might've charted a private plane and took off, completely out of our radar."
"Thanks for pointing that out, Myles." Dimitrius snarled. He really didn't want to consider the possibility of what Myles had said, but it was too warm, too possibly true.
Tara cleared her throat to speak up. "However, there's nothing in any of White's profile that indicates he could have a plane, or knows anyone that could."
"Of course not, and we had no whiff that he had a partner on the sidelines either, till Lance unsuspectingly entered the picture." Myles muttered.
"There's gotta be something here right in front of our nose that we're just too dumb to see!" Steve growled. Then he realized what he'd just said. "Sorry," he moaned, "I...I didn't mean to say..."
"We understand." Dimitrius said.
For the next two days, Mark, Steve, Jessie, Amanda, and the team split their time between sitting around at the hospital, BBQ Bob's, the LAPD, and the beach house. They kept going over what they already knew and tried overtime to come up with a clue as to where White was hiding out. But they were no closer to figuring it out than when Lucy had first been kidnapped! Everyone prayed for her safety and Sue's recovery, but they were all very worried. White's usual pattern was to kidnap a woman, keep her missing for three to five days, and then dump her body. It had been two days since he'd taken Lucy, and all her friends were in mental torture knowing that she could be killed within hours. They all tried to keep up a determined facade and stay on task, yet each one knew full well the implications of what would most likely happen. It was almost as if they had no choice but to wait until Lucy's...her...her body showed up for them to get anywhere, but none of them were planning to take that option. Thankfully, according to Tara and Norman-who had his social connections and agreed to help if he could-, neither White nor Lance had taken a plane out of the state, using an alias or not. And according to SOG, neither of the thugs had been spotted near the hotel or the beach house. But still, every minute, every hour, every day they lost could be one closer to Lucy losing her life!
Lucy had been kept tied to the same chair in the same cold, cinder block room. She was cold, and hungry, lonesome, thirsty, angry, and scared. She still couldn't figure out where she was. There was a long, high window along the wall behind her, but that was all, with a single florescent light bulb hanging from the ceiling. She wanted out. If only she had her cell phone with her, then surely Jack and the gang could trace its signal! She wondered what this room, this building had been used for at one time before. She decided to use her FBI powers of observation and try to figure out where she could possibly be by listening to the noises outside the building. It's not like that would do her much good, considering she had no way of alerting her friends to her location, but then on the other hand, what else could she do? There wasn't really anything else she could do, except pray for deliverance and for her friends to find her.
White and Lance had mostly left her alone, except when they came to intimidate her. Every time they did, she glared at them and tried to stay silent, which increased White's anger. She'd told him once before what was what, and that had ticked him off. But her inflexible, indignant silence made it worse to him! He felt he was losing control of the situation and her when she didn't fight back. She was, with her mute but unquestionable scowl, but not the way he wanted. He wanted to see her squirm, he wanted to see her flinch, cower, cry, any sign of weakness because he'd inflicted pain, which gave him a shallow sense of triumph after that woman he'd loved had back-stabbed him! But things weren't going his way. After all he'd done in the past, taking Lucy seemed to have been the biggest flaw in his dirty work. There was something about her that he just couldn't seem to destroy and it frustrated him. All his other victims had been weak (in his eyes), and he'd been able to break them by breaking their spirits before they died and then he broke their corpses. But Lucy wouldn't back down and that made him desperate. He had to gain back control of the situation! The only time he saw a flicker of fear flash in Lucy's eyes was any time she heard him threaten to harm her 'special' friend, and that gave White a sliver of hope. That was her weak spot and he would abuse it as much as he wanted. The prospect of crushing her spirit by carrying out his threat delighted him in hideous inspiration.
"I wish he'd show himself!" Myles blurted out in frustration. "I'd just like for that bloodthirsty ne'er-do-well to try to run after we show him our badges." It was the late evening of the second day, and they were still nowhere.
"If only White had a getaway vehicle, then we could trace it easily!" Steve added his distaste. Mark and the others watched on in silent agreement. Mark decided to leave the lounge and check on Jack. "Excuse me. I need a drink." Steve muttered. "Can I get anyone else something?"
"How about a man-sized spy drone that says FBI on it, with a loud speaker declaring, 'show yourself!'?" Myles rolled his eyes.
"I have a couple patients to check on." Jessie sighed and left the lounge. Amanda stayed there with Dimitrius, Bobby, and Tara.
"Heading up to ICU again?" Delores asked Mark as he passed her at the nurses' station.
"Yep." Mark sighed. "I just want to make sure Sue's okay, and her poor dog."
"And that handsome, worried young agent, right?"
"Mmm-hmm."
"Have you seen that poor boy lately?" Delores asked. "He's just a wasting away, worrying about that pretty girl."
"I know." Mark nodded in agreement. "He's really afraid for her. This is hitting him hard."
"Mmm. Small wonder. I've seen the look on his face. I've seen the formula that forms when they're together."
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Delores?" Mark asked.
"I'm not thinking. I know! Doc, we've got a case of human spontaneous combustion!"
Mark smiled and walked down the hall.
"Mr. Hudson, is there anything I can get for you?" Susan asked kindly, touching his shoulder. Though her call was in ER not ICU, the whole gang had been keeping a close eye on Sue, Jack, and Levi.
"Oh, no thanks." Jack shook his head. "That's okay. I'm fine. But thanks anyway."
"You know, you look bushed."
"I feel bushed."
"Maybe you should go take a rest. I can stay here with her until you get back."
"That's okay. I'll stay. But thanks for checking up on me."
"Sure." Susan smiled, patting his arm and walked out. She passed Mark on her way from the elevators. "Hi, Dr. Sloan."
"Hey, Susan." Mark replied. "How's..."
"No change." Susan shook her head. "With any of them."
"Okay, thanks." Mark nodded, touching her shoulder, then continued his mission.
"How is he?" Jessie asked when Susan returned to the nurses' station. She shook her head. "Well, I can understand how he feels."
"Oh, you can?" Susan asked curiously with a hint of haughtiness.
"Of course. I mean, if that was you in there...I..."
"You what?"
"I wouldn't be happy about it."
"Hmm. Well, sorry. Tough luck, Dr. Travis. Not gonna happen." Susan cocked her head and walked to the elevator.
Tara decided to stretch her legs and grabbed herself a Sprite from the vending machine. Then she stood against the wall outside the lounge. Steve saw her when he returned and nervously walked over to her. "I hate this whole mess!" He growled, gulping down his bottle of Fresca.
"Don't we all." Tara agreed with a heavy sigh, sipping her soda. "I sure wish White would make a bad slip soon. I'm getting tired of staring at monotonous, stale old records." Steve slightly grinned at her light, humorous remark. She was trying to keep her head together through this nightmare and he couldn't help admiring the laid-back way she was able to do it. Though he'd seen the dismay and worry cross her face every time they'd failed to come up with a lead.
"Well, we're not giving up." Steve said confidently, trying to be positive too. "We may be looking for a needle in a haystack, but we've dealt with worse and found a needle."
"So have we." Tara said quietly, but with a slight smile. "And as Jack says, 'I love a good haystack'. I'm just glad this one isn't burying us in paperwork. You know, I always think much clearer with a computer screen than loads of paper?"
"Oh, I feel ya!" Steve actually found himself slightly laughing. He for one hated paperwork. "It's tedious, slow, above all, boring..."
"And mind-boggling." Tara finished for him.
"Yeah." Steve gulped at what he was about to attempt to try to say. "Miss Williams...er, I mean...Tara..." he cleared his throat.
"Yes?"
"I know this so isn't the right time, and I wish it was under more pleasant circumstances, but..." Steve cleared his throat again, "when this is all over, I was wondering if...I was hoping...I thought I might take you out somewhere to dinner, to celebrate. I-if you'd like to, that is! I'd, uh...y-you don't have to say yes if you don't want to."
Tara stared at him with her eyebrows raised. She blinked. "Uh...this is really unexpected, Lt." She chuckled. "I...I don't know what to say. Except, that's very thoughtful of you, but..."
"But?" Steve gulped.
"I'd like to think about it." Tara answered. She was still going with Stanley, when he was in town that is, but Steve's offer sounded very welcoming and kind. Yet, she didn't want to play the game of trying to stay true to more than one. She'd done that once and it hadn't gone over very well.
"Sure." Steve agreed. She didn't say no! He thought hopefully. Of course, I shouldn't have expected her to say yes right away. I mean, we've really just met. But...she didn't say no!
Mark quietly entered Sue's room. Jack was standing looking out the window with his back to the elder gentleman. Levi looked up at Mark from his spot on Sue's bed. He was curled up between her legs. He stared at Mark then put his head back down. Mark cocked his head sympathetically and rubbed the dog's head. "You're such a good boy," He whispered. "Jack? You all right?" Jack slowly turned.
"Oh, hey." He said quietly. "I'm okay."
Mark shook his head. "No, you're not okay. You look exhausted. Why don't you go back to the hotel and get some sleep? I can stay with Sue for a while."
"Thanks, Mark, but no. I'm not leaving her. I...I can't." Jack weakly argued.
"Well, I can see that I'm not gonna change your mind. And I understand, son. At least come out and stretch your legs. Why don't we take a short walk? You can come right back as soon as you're done. A little change of scenery won't hurt." Mark encouraged. Jack pondered for a moment but hesitated. "Don't worry. If there's any change, a nurse out in the hall will page me."
"Alright." Jack sighed heavily. "It is a little confining in here. At least I'm not the one in the bed though. That would make it worse."
"Yeah, it sure would." Mark snickered.
"I'll be right back, Bud." Jack smiled at Levi, scratching under his chin. Then he silently signed to Sue, "I'll be back for you." He looked back at her room as Mark pulled him along.
"Take it easy, Jack. She's not going anywhere." Mark said, patting his shoulder.
"I know." Jack nodded.
"You're really worried about her, aren't you? It's okay. She's very blessed to have someone like you."
Jack remained silent. He hoped Mark was right. He hoped that he was what Sue needed, what Sue wanted from a husband. He'd tried so hard to be what he thought would qualify, that and more. He and Mark never saw or noticed the two looming figures waiting for them to leave Sue's hospital room!
"Any news at all?" Jack finally spoke up.
"Nothing yet." Mark shook his head dejectedly. Jack grimaced. He didn't like that answer.
What do you think is going to happen? Will they find Lucy?
