D: I do not own CSI New York or 'Missing' by Evanescence.


Even though I'm the sacrifice

You won't try for me, not now

Though I die to know you love me

I'm all alone

Isn't someone missing me?

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It was a promising lead. They were looking for old friends, workers, anyone that would be able to help them. Finally, they had someone. A family member of Brian – talked to them on how Mac was at the funeral. They mentioned that Reed hugged Mac, and Mac hugged back. Seton was elated, but Sinclair played Devil's Advocate. Finally, they had something. A former girlfriend of his came forward about his search for his biological mother. Her name was Claire Conrad.

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Mac was in his office when Stella and Adam walked in. "What do you got?" After not receiving a response for a minute, he looked up. "What's going on?"

"Sinclair and Seton are trying to get you fired," Stella simplified.

Adam explained. "They're trying to find a connection between you and Reed. Sinclair's going to dismiss you from the case. Seton's going to solve it, sacrificing Reed. Sinclair will then fire you for not taking yourself off of the cases involving Reed. They're also getting Internal involved."

"They're going to let Reed be killed?" Adam only nodded, seeing the rage that was building up. "We need to solve this before we get pulled off. What did you get from the videos?"

"The first one was done by someone else. It was done by a male in an old warehouse. The first victim was able to get in some talking and yelling. The victim's voice is very close to the voice I separated from the synthesized."

"The victim took over for the guy. Who was the original victim?"

"I will go find her." Adam walked out. Mac looked over to Stella.

"Saint Augustine's has been closed for the past five years. Their files were stored at a separate storage site. The site was broken into. Several files were removed. They cannot tell how many or exactly who."

"They don't have a central filing system? An index?"

"No, and I couldn't find a former employee of the orphanage. Most were elderly and the one that wasn't was in a car accident."

"Did Chicago PD have anything on the case?" Stella held up a thin folder. "That's it? That's all they have?"

"Not a high priority case. It's just old files to them."

"Not anymore. Check the fingerprints, if they have any. Once Adam gets the name of that woman, check it against her." Mac slammed the file down and sat down.

"We will find him, Mac. Before we are pulled off."

"I'm not sure we'll be able to do that much. Angell found out about his parents. They were killed in an accident on their vacation. And since I can't claim for him, he'll be treated like the lawyer."

"Mac, if the time comes, we can fake something. She doesn't know that Claire is dead. She may not even know what she looked like."

"Let's get to finding her before we have to resort to that."

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Lindsay was going over the cloth when Stella walked in. "Anything on the cloth?"

"Leather cleaning chemicals that are sold at hundreds of places in the city. There was also very small traces of latex. I think she was wearing rubber gloves on the inside."

"That would figure with the next to nothing forensic evidence. She's good."

"But we are better. She nicked herself on the door leading outside. Mayes collected it after Mac left."

"How do you know it's hers?"

"It's fresh and female."

"We may have a possible suspect. When Adam figures her out," Stella started.

"Run her against the sample."

"Thank you, Lindsay."

"Stella," she called before she could leave completely. "How much time does he have?"

"About four hours for someone to contact her."

"Who's going to contact her?"

"We haven't figured that out yet."

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She called it his last meal.

Some last meal. He bit into the random burger and took a little bit of the fries. He didn't get any ketchup and the burger was dry. She told him he had three hours to go before she killed him. He would have spouted something about Mac, but thought back to the things she was talking about. She doesn't know about Mac. I shouldn't tell her.

He threw the wrappers into the paper bag and waited for her to come and get it. She didn't come in until he had an hour left. She had her face covered when she brought in a speaker unit and a phone cord. "Your biological mother wants to talk to you." She plugged in the phone cord and waited a couple of minutes. She pushed the answering when it rang once.

"Reed? Reed, honey, are you all right?"

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Stella walked into the AV lab, where Mac was already working with Adam. "I haven't been able to trace the site down to one place. Whoever it is is pigging-backing off of the café here." He pointed to the map that was up. A one block radius was made.

"Aren't there ways of blocking the signal outside of a building?"

"The signal is blocked; I checked with the owners. It could be that the person copied it for their system or there's another transmitter in the café they haven't noticed."

"She's broadcasting to another computer, which is uploading it. We can't pinpoint her."

"We do have her name." Both looked at him. "Hillary Gripton, adopted daughter of Gram Gripton."

"Director of several award winning movies."

"Also the owner of several buildings in Manhattan. She could be using any of them."

"The original case on her kidnapping had her fingerprints. We matched them to the Chicago case. There's no DNA, so I can't test that."

"We can issue a warrant. Possible tie to the case."

"Actually, I'll do that, Taylor," a voice interrupted. They all turned to see Seton standing with Sinclair.

Sinclair read the paper he was holding. "'While he was in freshman year of college, Reed was searching for his biological mother. The name he was given was Claire Conrad.' The same Claire that you married, Taylor." He folded the paper. "You and everyone on the team are being suspended, pending an investigation into any wrong-doing on this case."

"You should have taken yourself off, Taylor." Two CSIs came in and changed over the chain of custody from Mac, Stella and Adam. Sinclair ushered them out and lead them to Mac's office, where Danny, Lindsay, Hawkes, Flack and Angell were.

"Mac, what the hell's going on?" Danny asked.

"We're being thrown off," Stella gave.

"IDs and guns, now." Everyone brought out their items. "Internal Affairs will be getting into this after the case is closed."

"You mean after you have Reed killed," Danny brought up. He didn't say anything and waited for them to leave before picking up the phone.

"Mac, what do we do now?" Lindsay asked as they exited the building.

"We have an hour and forty five minutes left until the deadline."

Are you Claire Conrad?

"Mac, I have an idea."

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Hawkes and Adam were setting up the final additions to the recorder. They were all in Mac's apartment. Danny was tending to Lindsay while Angell and Flack were out getting coffee. Stella was sitting on the couch with Mac. "Are you sure about this? What if she knows?" Hawkes asked.

"Then I'll get involved. If she's just getting her information from just the agency, then she won't know, just like Reed," Mac brought up.

Claire died on nine-eleven.

"Just over an hour," she noticed, nodding to the clock on the wall.

"Let's call her." Stella dialed the number and waited for her to pick up.

The synthesized voice came up. "Are you calling for Reed Garrett?"

"I am."

"Your relationship with the victim?"

"His biological mother."

"Call back in five minutes; you'll be able to talk to him then." The call ended.

"Five minutes, why can't we talk to him now?" Mac asked.

"Speaker phone. Talk to him also," Hawkes suggested.

Five minutes past before Stella punched in the number again. She heard the machine pick up. "Reed? Reed, honey, are you all right?"

Reed listened to the machine in question. That's Detective Bonasera. Mac's partner.He figured out their game in time. "I'm fine, Mom. I haven't been hurt yet."

The woman held up a box in front of her mouth. "What are you willing to do for your son, Claire?"

"How much are you asking for?"

"Who says I want money? I want you to answer twenty questions about him truthfully. I arraign the area. You come alone, with no help from electronics. You have four hours to prepare yourself, starting now." She turned off the phone and turned to Reed. "I guess your mother loves you after all."

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Stella started at the phone. "Four hours. Mac, what do I need to know about Reed?"

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She handed him a pad of paper and a mechanical pencil. "If you wear down the eraser, just scratch the answers out." She left with the bag.

She may bring me back here. What can I do to lead them here? The answers. She can't mess with them.

Twenty questions, twenty answers. Bakery is a needed. Smell another.

What first?

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Stella waited in the park for an hour. The caller told her to head to Central Park. She picked the most crowded area for them to meet. All agreed, she wasn't bringing him there, she was leading Stella to another area where he was.

Flack and Angell were on a park bench, faking a lovesick appearance while watching Stella. Hawkes was at the entrance, waiting for her to past before following. Adam, Danny and Mac were waiting around, going to come in when she was suspicious. Lindsay was staying at Mac's, organizing the group and listening for interference from Sinclair and Seton.

"Woman at nine o'clock," Stella muttered as someone wearing a full black suit and a blonde wig coming up.

"Claire Conrad."

"Where is he?"

"Waiting for you. I couldn't risk someone helping you here." She motioned and Stella followed her out of the park. Hawkes kept back about twenty feet. They walked until she stopped into a side alley. "Cell phone, trackers, bugs. Get rid of them now." Stella dropped the cheap cell and the necklace that had a false plant on the back. Her earrings acted as receivers and the watch on her right wrist held a mic. Her real cell was hidden in a secret pocket in her blouse, still on and being traced.

She kept walking after five minutes to a waiting van. She opened the backdoor to show Reed sitting on the floor with bound ankles and a chain connecting his handcuffed wrists to the floor. "Oh, Reed." She climbed in and sat next to him. She shut the door and left them in darkness. "Mac's following me; we'll be all right," she whispered. He nodded and settled a little.

"First question, who was Reed's friend that was killed?"

"Brian Miller."

"Good, question two." She went through the twenty questions, most of which Stella could answer. A few she had to listen to Mac for, since Reed couldn't talk with the tape over his mouth.

"Question twenty," she started, but never got to finish as she was pulled out. Mac opened the door and helped Stella outside before going in to cut Reed's bonds. Angell searched her to find the keys to the cuffs.

"Mac, I can get the tape off his mouth," Hawkes mentioned, bringing up a small first aid kit. He pulled out a bottle of solution. Angell threw him the keys to the cuffs when she found them.

"Mac, Sinclair's been alerted to Stella following someone. Seton's on the way; he's alerting them to the area you are now. They're arresting you on site," Lindsay reported.

"Come on, we need to get you somewhere safe." He moved Reed to a position of safety. Flack and Danny went first, checking for sirens and cars. Adam was listening to the radio for updates. Stella and Angell brought up the back. Mac and Reed were in the middle.

"Mac, what's going on?"

"They found out about you."

"What?"

"Sinclair found out, Seton's convinced him to let him take over the investigation and they were going to let her kill you." Reed faltered a couple of steps. Mac wrapped his arm tighter to hold him and force him forward. "We're going to hide you until they have her in custody."

"They were going to…"

"Don't think about it." They had gone halfway to his apartment when two official cars and a SUV came up on them. Seton and Sinclair stepped out of the SUV.

"Taylor, you interfered with the investigation," Sinclair yelled.

"A human life was at stake; you wouldn't do everything to save him," Stella called out.

"Arrest them all, including the kid," Seton ordered, "the kid and Taylor comes with us."


Well, that was interesting.

Why are you here?

I find this quite …

Finish that sentence and you'll end up…

Stop! Don't finish that and go back to what you were doing.

I was reading this.

I was following him.

I heard he was about to repeat that line.

Okay.

Review please.