Chapter 2: Disbelief

"Oh God..." John could feel the blood draining from his head. "BOTH of them?"

"They have both Gracie and Jossie..." Joss started, then backtracked. "Rosa buzzed them in at the gate thinking they were the furniture delivery truck. As soon as Rosa opened the door, she was rushed then restrained in the laundry room, gassed Zoe, then took the girls..."

"They took my girls . . ." His voice broke on the last words. His girls, they were only five. Gracie would be so scared and Jossie, his tough little Jossie, would be making sure her sister felt safe. John had never felt this helpless in his life.

"Was Rosa hurt?"

"Rosa is tough, she's just a little shook up, but I think she's cooking enough to feed an army in there. Which is a good thing since Fusco, Finch and Bear are on their way."

John looked at Joss, "Zoe?"

"The effects of the chloroform should be wearing off by now. I tried to get her to lie down, but you know her. . ."

"That I do. . . I take it she's in her office going through client records? In case this isn't a random kidnapping and a ransom call never comes," he surmised. He certainly knew how Zoe's mind worked. And he was positive that when he saw her, he wouldn't recognize her as Jossie and Gracie's mother, she would be Zoe, Crisis Manager to the powerful. She would hold back any sign of vulnerability and face the bastards who took her daughters.

"You got everything figured out down here Carter?"

"Yeah, like I said, Fusco will be here soon. My guess is these guys were professionals and aren't going to leave much to go on. So go, go see your wife, make sure she doesn't crack and tell her to rest, just until that damn drug is out of her system."

John nodded and walked quickly to the stairs and took the steps two at a time.

Zoe glared at her computer screen. She wanted to yell, cry, throw things, or verbally beat the hell out of someone, anything but sitting here staring at files that don't make sense to her. None of her clients would do this, what would they have to gain? Plus they knew the wrath of Zoe Morgan would be upon them if anything touched her family. It had only been a couple of hours, but there were so few answers and too much fear. She wasn't sure how long she could keep it together.

The mask of indifference and strength that she had perfected over the years fell into place as she heard a quiet knock on her door. No fear, no weakness, only steely determination and plain old stubbornness.

"Zoe…" John said as he walked into her office, concern written on his face.

"What's being done to find my girls?" Zoe demanded as she stood up.

"Don't you snarl at me Zoe. They are my children too," John stared down his wife and her well known defense mechanism.

Zoe sighed, he was right. This was John who knew everything. John who she held nothing back from. John, who waited for five years before he asked her to marry him; he knew that it was what she needed. John, her husband and the father of her beautiful little girls. "I'm sorry . . ." she said as she sat down and pinched the bridge of her nose. "It's been hours and there hasn't been any contact, no demands, nothing."

Walking around her desk, John hunched down in front of her. "I know, Carter is doing everything she can to find out anything without alerting the police. It's difficult since we don't want to involve the local police or the FBI."

"I've been going over my client list and there is no one that would work a kidnapping like this. Of course they know we would pay any ransom demand, but no one is standing out."

Zoe watched John's eyes fill with strength and determination. "We'll find them," John said. John Reese never gave up, didn't know the meaning of the word impossible, if anyone would bring their girls back it would be John.

They were in the back of a van and were on the move; it was not a comfortable ride given that they were sliding around the van's floor and hitting its walls every time they hit a bump or turned. The men that took them from their house shoved them in the van while they were both screaming for their Mommy and Rosa.

Pulling her legs up to her chest, Jossie tried to sit more comfortably by leaning against the side wall of the van. Brushing the tears from her face she hugged the stuffed puppy, Wren that her Uncle Harold had given her. He had given Gracie a stuffed puppy too; she named it Bear-Bear because she said it looked like Bear. She looked over at her sister and found her curled up on her side, hugging Bear-Bear, still crying.

"Gracie," she whispered as she scooted closer. Carefully she pulled her sister up towards her and put her arm around her shoulders hugging her close. Gracie leaned on her and started sucking her thumb. Jossie almost told her to stop since they had promised that they would stop sucking their thumbs when they were five, but she figured it was okay to do that right now since they were both really, really, scared.

"I'm scared Jossie," Gracie mumbled, looking up at her sister.

"I know, it's going to be okay, Mommy and Daddy will find us," Jossie tried to sound reassuring hoping her sister would believe her.

"So, where do you think they are taking us?" she asked her twin, both sets of identical blue eyes were filled with concern.

"I don't know, but we may be far away from our house. It's kinda bumpy like when we go to Ellie's house," Jossie replied. Their friend Ellie lived further out where they had horses and stuff.

"How long do you think before Mommy and Daddy come for us?" Gracie whispered her voice soft and low, her brow furrowed.

"Not long, you know how Mommy and Daddy are. They'll be mad that those men took us, and I bet they get help from Auntie Joss, Uncle Lionel and Uncle Harold," Jossie said with confidence. She knew her parents were going to find them. She hoped soon.

The van stopped, sending both girls tumbling to their sides. They could hear the doors up front open and slam shut again, then heard several voices outside the vans. They both squealed as the back doors were suddenly opened and the two big men reached in and dragged them out.

"Where are my Mommy and Daddy?" Jossie asked indignantly.

"Shut up, kid." One of the big men said as she and Gracie were dragged up a small set of stairs and into the living room of the house.

By the time Fusco and Harold arrived, Joss and John had gotten a good head start in identifying the individuals that took the girls. They were able to access the front gate surveillance cameras and found out that indeed, there were two men. Both appeared to be white with no distinguishing marks or tattoos, at least on their faces. They came in a white cargo van, unfortunately, the license plate was indistinguishable. Zoe was upstairs in her office calling all her contacts to see if anyone had heard or knew anything about Gracie and Jossie's abduction.

Finch was now busy running the men's faces through a facial recognition program. The beep from his computer indicated that he had found his first match. Roy Muller had a record for petty theft and some drunken disorderlies. The second man was identified as Buddy Harris. He had a similar background to Roy Muller and in fact had worked several thefts together.

"In the grand scheme of things, they are relatively harmless. They have no history of violence and as far as I can tell, but what is interesting is that they don't have any history of extortion." Carter paused before speaking again. "So this tells me that there is someone else might be calling the shots."

"I can start running some searches on known associations that could tie to either John or Zoe," Finch declared his voice strained and anxious. His feelings for those two little girls went beyond that of a family friend. His feelings were more akin to that of a doting, loving, uncle. And those little girls treated him as such.

"John!"

All four, sitting at the table looked up immediately as Zoe came into the kitchen toting her laptop.

"Zoe, what happened?" John asked.

"I just received an email. It has a video attachment. It's them."