Paternal Bonds Shattered

Disclaimer: Do I need to say it? I don't own iCarly

A/N:

Chapter 9 (Police Corruption)

Amy and Della Marissa Benson drove downtown in a small sedan, it had been three weeks since Sam's kidnapping. Nobody found her, and the police were still searching. There had been rumors that some of the police were being paid off by someone, but nobody had proof. Della was part of a cyber-police unit and was interested in recruiting Amy into the field of criminal justice. Amy actually was interested in going in, to investigate her daughter's disappearance. However, she had a feeling that someone was after her.

"You say you're not safe?" Della asked curiously. She and Spencer had talked about Sam's abduction. He said he had a feeling it might be connected to the disappearances of Gibby, Jeremy, Nevel, and Valerie. He actually had been going to law school for the past year, contrary to what his dad thought. He had actually finished and was a full blown lawyer now. Sure he was new, but he knew how to process documents at least. Amy slowly nodded her head and remembered what had happened to Jonah and how he and his family had left town.

"Everything just seems too coincidental." Amy frowned as Della slowly nodded her head. Nobody heard from Hector or knew where he was, he moved without saying a word. "I almost wonder if Jeremy and the others are involved in it too."

"Why?"

"They never liked my daughter. I don't know if Valerie would be involved or not, but with those boys gone at the same time…I'm a bit worried." Della looked in her rearview mirror and frowned, there was a car behind them that had been following them for quite some time. This was actually foreseen by the two women, they knew what it meant. "I think it's Hector though, something just…" Amy closed her eyes and tears left her eyes. The way he acted when Sam disappeared, though, that was what made it difficult. She didn't know if it was him or not, she didn't want to think he could have taken their daughter. "He seemed so kind."

"They often do, Amy. They often do."

"He's untouchable though, if it really is him. I mean there's no way to trace him now." This was true. Ever since he started his career, he was practically non-existent. The trail was going to wind up dead at this rate.

"I'm going to call Spencer, I have an idea, if you think it could be Hector and he's out for you." Della called Spencer up and looked in her rearview mirror once more. She took a sharp left and the person tailing them did the same. He was definitely following them.

"Can you draft up a death certificate?" Amy raised her eyebrow as Della stepped on the gas just a bit. "We may be faking a death in order to get her in a witness protection deal." Amy rolled her eyes as the conversation went on for a bit. "So you can do that? Thank you very much!"

"So what's the plan, Dell?"

"We'll see." Della pulled into a nearby alleyway, knowing Spencer was just around the corner. She went inside as Amy gave a small sigh, somehow she felt this was going to be incredibly painful. She exited the car in time to see the man pull up, he had no plates and was wearing a ski mask.

"Typical, you don't want to be identified, huh?" The man sneered as he pointed his gun towards her.

"Boss man says you have to die," the man said as he cocked his gun. Amy sighed and raised her hands, she was trusting Della with this. Thank god she was wearing a vest underneath.

"You're going to shoot a woman who just lost everything? How low can you go?"

"I've gone a lot lower than this." Amy raised her eyebrows and chuckled. How nice of him to reveal that much. She knew people would be all over this in an instant. That is, unless the police were really the corrupt bastards they were rumored to be.

"Tell me, kind sir…" A sarcastic sneer was in her voice, she knew this man must be connected to someone who had her child. "Are the disappearances of Gibby, Nevel, Jeremy, and Valerie connected? Are the deaths of those families all connected? Do they have something to do with my daughter's disappearance?" The man laughed and a smirk formed at his lips. She narrowed her eyes and slowly closed her hands.

"Yes."

"Well then will you tell me this…Does my ex, Hector Puckett have anything to do with my daughter's disappearance?" The man frowned and held the gun on her for a minute, contemplating his answer.

"No." Amy was now disheartened, was this man lying or telling the truth? Had Hector truly had nothing to do with Sam's disappearance? If so, then all respect to him for truly turning his life around. But if he did, if he really did, then she was going to find him and she would kill him.

"Is she alive?"

"Yes. They plan to keep her alive." Her eyes widened. Was he telling that just to make her feel better, or was that the truth? She could never tell with these criminals. "Now, enough chitchat. Goodbye Ms. Puckett." Amy closed her eyes and felt her body jerk with the gunshot. She fell back against the pavement as the man leapt into his car and sped away. It was not long before Della came rushing to her aid. She slowly opened her eyes and moaned lightly.

"Good job, you now get to join my all new, secret team."

"What team is that?"

"I like to call them the 'ghosts' of the police force." Amy raised her eyebrow as Della slowly helped her up. The Ghost Task Force was a newly formed squad that consisted for the sole purpose of combining officers and people who faked their deaths in order to work behind the scenes. They were supposed to be a highly skilled task force, the "Big Guns" of the police system. Nobody was to know about them, and in order to further keep secret the organization, they had to fake their deaths. Only a small few, special people were chosen for this. "You have a strong will, and I can see you handling criminals just fine."

"Great…can we go now? I'm kind of in pain. Are we anywhere near Spencer?"

"Yes, get in the car but keep your head down in case that person is still lurking about."

"Yes ma'am." Amy chuckled nervously as they drove off. A good thing about being behind the scenes meant they could investigate whatever they wanted, such as the disappearance of her daughter. They were the ones that mainly solved cold cases.

Meanwhile, Victor paid a little visit to the current chief of police. He smiled as the man stood up and shook his hand, recognizing him. "Victor Oswin, how are things at your publishing company?"

"So far things are running very smoothly. You know, I'm funding that new park they're putting in."

"Yes, I heard about that." The Chief sat down at his desk and smiled as Victor took a seat in the leather chair across the desk. "It's difficult to catch some things when you're as busy as we are."

"Oh? Is that so?"

"Yes, we're all abuzz over the incidents that have happened in the last few weeks. A girl is abducted, several people are murdered and their children abducted as well. We're not sure if there is a connection, we don't see any." Victor rubbed his chin in thought and glanced at the newspaper. The headliner was about Sam. "We just got a call in a few hours ago, the primary witness is dead. The girl's mother…"

"I see, it looks like you and the police need to take a little bit of a break from the case for a while." Victor silently moved his hand onto the desk and slipped a few hundred dollar bills forward. The Chief's eyes grew wide and he took the money, smiling ever so slightly as he began counting up to nearly ten thousand or more.

"Why yes, I think we could use a break from that case, old friend."

"So you'll have them stop investigating that girl's disappearance?"

"She won't be missed, she and her mother didn't have anyone…" Victor slowly nodded and stood up, he had other matters to attend to now. He'd just given Hector legal immunity, curtsey of the police chief of Seattle himself.

Hours later, Amy and Della were driving back to Bushwell when Della's police radio started beeping. Della flipped it on and the Chief's voice rang aloud. "Until further notice, the case of Sam Puckett's disappearance has gone cold. All units are hereby urged and forbidden from investigating this recent crime. Instead, top priority must be placed on other cases."

"Shit!" Della shouted as she turned off the radio. She couldn't believe it! She looked at Amy, who was visibly shaken. Nobody was going to look for her daughter. She couldn't believe it. "That's crap!"

"Is my daughter really nothing to them? Della?" Della frowned as she came to a stop in the Bushwell parking lot. She had to make a call, she needed to see if Henry knew anything about this. She grabbed her phone and noticed he beat her to it.

"Della, did you just hear the Chief?" Henry proclaimed.

"Yes, I'm pissed about it. You?"

"I don't understand, we can't look for her…what has this police force come to?"

"It's turned to hell ever since this guy's been in, I know that. He has no sense of justice. They could use a different man…" She didn't want to admit that she thought Henry would be much better. They divorced years ago when Freddie was only six. Henry had panicked when something happened to her and she fell into a coma for two weeks. He almost killed himself and sent Freddie to be adopted.

"They can't do this!"

"They just did. You want to try and lodge a complaint? The asshole might take away your badge. Anyway, I have some…consoling to do." Henry nodded in understanding as Della hung up the phone and turned to Amy, who was staring down in shock. "Amy, it's going to be okay. We're going to keep looking."

"We're forbidden to."

"Yeah for now…but you know, Henry's going to be police chief one day and then we can take the investigation into full blown top priority." Amy smiled slightly and looked at Della. She knew that Della still had feelings for Henry, after all, the divorce was a bit of jumping the gun.

"You have faith in him, don't you?" Della blushed and quickly shook her head. She could deny it as much as she wanted to, but Amy saw right through it.

"Either way, I'm still making this case top priority. I'm sure Henry is going to as well. We can work on it in secret. Plus, he just made it a 'cold' case." She smirked and narrowed her eyes, cold cases were their specialty after all. "That instantly hands it over to the Ghosts."

"We do need to work on that name though." Amy was relieved that she had a good friend in Della, relieved that they would still look for Sam. They weren't going to give up just because some corrupt police chief told them not to continue.

Got nothing to add, XD