Chapter 6 – Visits and Visitors

"Name?"

"Stacy Daley. D. A. L. E. Y," he repeated. Don Flack stood towering over the desk. He arched an eyebrow thinking that it would rival Jo's for untidiness. It was piled high with files, scraps of paper empty coffee cups, a half-dead pot plant and oddly a pair of black stiletto shoes. Also like Jo's there were several dozen sticky-notes attached to the screen, stuck on various files. There were even four on the Simpson's coffee mug that served as a pen holder. The woman at the other side of the desk peered at the computer-screen over the top of her half-moon glasses. "Daley. Stacy. Runaway. Probable abuse victim. Picked up for stealing a loaf of bread," she drawled as though bored by the question. "Refused to talk. Placed at St Agne's. Ran away. Eventually placed ..." She peered at the screen again and tapped a key. "... with Alice and Henry Graham. They're group C's." She looked up at Don who raised his eyebrows questioningly. "C's handle troubled kids."

"Did you try to find her family? Who she really was?" asked Don trying not to sound irritated.

Rachel Willis shrugged and tucked a limp lock of mousey brown hair behind one ear. "Ran her through Missing Persons, checked surveilled families."

"Surveilled families?"

"Families we suspect of abusing their kids. No match." A thought seemed to strike her. "Wasn't surprised though. Not a New Yorker. Dr Walsh thought south. Florida maybe. Something she said, faded tan. Had little stick-on tattoo's. Like she spent time in shorts and top."

"You didn't push her for information?"

She shrugged again. "Not my job. Found her a placement. She settled well." The phone rang. She snatched at it irritably. "Rachel Willis, Child Services … No ..." She looked at her watch. "Not today. Call me in the morning." She hung up and glared at Don. "Anything else?"

Don tried to keep his cool but Ms Willis and her shortened sentences were beginning to get on his nerves. "Where can I find Dr Walsh?"

.

While Don traipsed around the Child Services building Adam was coddling his girls. "Come on baby, you can do it," he coaxed as his fingers caressed the keyboard. "Just give us a place to start looking." Sheldon stood looking over his shoulder, a hint of amusement in his dark eyes as Adam sweet-talked the machines. Having hit a dead-end with the bullet fragments he had gone to see if he could help Adam. Together they had come up with an algorithm that would hopefully give them the most probable escape route after leaving the alley based on the least number of traffic cameras, the fastest way out of the city and the most likely vehicles to look for. Movement outside the glass partition pulled their eyes away from the screen. Three men were striding down the corridor towards the conference room where Jo, Danny and Lindsay were comparing notes, Jo having finally convinced Alice and Hank Graham to go home with a promise to call them as soon as they had anything new.

As they watched the three men walk past Sheldon muttered. "That doesn't look good." Adam had to agree. Just the letters on the backs of the blue jackets of the two men following Al Harrison, the new, deceptively mild-mannered Chief of Detectives, were enough to make him want to hide.

"What do think the FBI are doing here?"

Sheldon looked grim. "I guess Danny and Lindsay's search on Cyrus Mason set a few bells ringing." He looked at Adam. "I reckon we ought to go see which ones." Sheldon headed for the door. Adam reluctantly rose to follow but sighed with relief as one of his 'girls' bleeped. He looked hopefully at Sheldon.

"Betsy's got something."

Sheldon paused in the doorway with an incredulous look on his face. "Betsy? You've given your computers names?" Adam looked at him wondering why that was surprising. "Man you need help!" muttered Sheldon as he rejoined Adam to peer at the screen to see what 'she' had found.

.

Jo turned away from the situation board, a pen in her hand, as Harrison rapped on the door and entered without waiting. "Detective Danville, these are ..." He cleared his throat. "Agents Wright and … er … Wong from the FBI." Jo stared at him in surprise and then at the agents who were watching her with stony expressions. Despite the seriousness of the situation she squashed the desperate urge to laugh. Danny unfortunately didn't but managed to turn it into a cough. Lindsay kicked him under the table. "It seems your investigation into Cyrus Mason has flagged your interest to the Bureau. Please be so good as to fill them in on what you have so far." Harrison looked at her pointedly. "I … er .. take there have been no developments since we last spoke."

"None Sir." Jo waved a hand to the two agents. "Please feel free to sit ..." Neither man moved. Agent Wright, a slim built man wearing a dark suit and insipid coloured tie under his official FBI wind-cheater, fixed her with a cold expression. Agent Wong had one of those oriental expressions that made it impossible for her to guess what he was thinking. "Er ... well … at ten thirteen this morning, a man by the name of Justin Myers was shot and killed with a bullet from a large calibre hand-gun. Our investigation puts Detective Mac Taylor and a girl by the name of Stacy Daley at the scene together with a man called Victor Gaunt. The evidence leads us to believe that Victor Gaunt is responsible for the murder of Justin Myers and the abduction of Detective Taylor and Stacy Daley." The two agents exchanged glances.

"Would you please tell us why you believe that Cyrus Mason would be involved in the abduction of a NYPD police officer and a thirteen year old girl?" asked Wright

Jo opened her mouth in surprise. She hadn't even mentioned Cyrus Mason's name "We haven't ascertained that yet. However, if you have any information that would help us..."

"We are not at liberty to share any information on an on-going investigation," intoned Wright automatically. "However we will keep you apprised of any progress we make in locating Detective Taylor."

Jo, Danny and Lindsay started. "Whoa! Hold on just a minute!" Danny sprang out of his chair. "You're not letting them take over?" He glared at Harrison. "This is Mac we're talking about."

Harrison was tempted to smile. He had expected just that reaction from the young CSI. Although it hadn't been long since he hadn't taken over from Brigham Sinclair, he had already a good feel for the crime lab team and their loyalty to the hard-headed, stubborn son-of-a-bitch that run it. He'd been warned about Taylor when he took on the job but despite the man's reputation he had discovered him to be a dedicated, honourable man though he had to admit stubborn didn't even begin to describe him. "Take it easy Detective Messer. This is a joint investigation."

Wright and Wong turned to look at him in surprise "It was our understanding that ..." began Wright but Harrison held up a hand fixing the FBI man with a cold expression. "We will share all information we have concerning Cyrus Mason. He is your affair but Victor Gaunt is the prime suspect in a murder investigation and in the abduction of the head of NYPD Crime lab. Detective Danville and her team will continue their investigation into those aspects of the case." He squared up to the two agents. "Now I believe that you may have information for us regarding the identity of the girl that was taken along with Detective Taylor."

Again the two agents exchanged glances. There was a pause as both parties eyed the other. Eventually Wright nodded to Wong who pulled a leather case from under his arm and extracted a slim file. He placed it on the table and pulled out a photograph, turning it to face them. "This is Sam Garner. He was a pilot for a commercial freight service out of Miami. The company was owned by Cyrus Mason. Garner disappeared a year ago just after Cyrus Mason delivered a shipment of arms to rebel forces in Mali." Wong looked uncomfortable for a moment. "Let's just say that those arms were intercepted and Mason was allowed to get away with the payment."

"Why?" Jo didn't like what she was hearing.

"We had managed to get someone undercover in Mason's organisation. There was a rumour that a big deal was going down involving an Al Qaeda cell operating here in the States. Mason was going to use the funds from the Mali rebels to finance that deal. We were hoping to track the money so that it would lead us not only to the Al Qaeda contacts but also to whoever is sourcing those weapons here."

"I sense a but." Jo glared at the two agents.

"But things went wrong," he admitted with a sigh. "The payment and Garner disappeared into thin air. Since then Cyrus Mason has been forced to pull funds from his different businesses to fulfil the Al Qaeda shipment. He badly needs the payment from the Mali rebels and our undercover agent says he is pouring all his energy and funds into finding Sam Garner."

"You think Sam Garner took it?" Danny pointed at the photograph.

Both men nodded. "Yes but Garner disappeared off the face of the earth," Wright admitted. "And he took his daughter with him."

"His daughter?" Lindsay exclaimed. They all looked at the photograph of Sam Garner. Dark hair, slim face and dark searching eyes. There was distinct family resemblance. "Stacy Daley is Sam Garner's daughter."

"Yes, yes she is."

.

Adam glanced at the people in the room. He had caught the end of the conversation but had missed out on why Stacy being Sam Garner's daughter was important. However, that didn't bother him as he jiggled nervously from foot to foot in the doorway hoping Jo would look at him. She did. He waved the tablet at her.

"What is it Adam?"

"I've found them. I mean I've found the van they were taken in. Rather we've found the van they were taken in ..." He gestured to Sheldon. Then he glimpsed Sheldon's face. He was staring at the two FBI agents with an expression that Adam could only describe as disgust. Adam broke off. He looked at the agents and then back at Sheldon as the others in the room stiffened realizing that something was wrong.

Harrison made the introductions . "Dr Sheldon Hawkes. Adam Ross, these are Agents Wright and Wong from the FBI."

Adam's jaw dropped and before he could help himself he spluttered, "Wright and Wong? No way!" They glared at him. "Er .. sorry." He flushed red as Danny sniggered and Lindsay elbowed him to be quiet.

Sheldon however didn't see the funny side. "You were there." His voice was as cold as ice. Everyone stared at him as he lifted an accusatory figure towards the two FBI men. "This morning. At the crime scene. You were there when I arrived."

Harrison spun to face them. "What?" The two agents exchanged glances once more. "I think you owe us an explanation." Wright looked down at his shoes under Harrison's scrutiny.

"You had her under surveillance?" Jo asked outraged. Neither man answered. "And you let them take her and Mac?"

"You sons-of-bitches!" Danny muttered under his breath. Lindsay put a steadying hand on his arm.

Wong looked apologetic. "The agent we had watching her was only instructed to keep her under surveillance and report in if he spotted any of Mason's men. We didn't know he was going to abduct her and Detective Taylor. I'm sorry."

.

"Sorry!" Don Flack exploded. "You're sorry?" he yelled at the two men who were now seated at the conference table opposite Harrison and Jo. Danny was stood against the far wall with his arms folded defiantly across his chest having refused to go home with Lindsay who couldn't leave Lucy any longer. Sheldon was back with Adam working on tracking the black Mercedes van that they identified earlier heading out of New York via the Lincoln Tunnel. Don stood at the foot of the table, his body rigid with anger as Jo had explained the reason for the presence of the two FBI agents. He stared at them in disbelief.

"Don!" Jo warned. Don ran a hand over his face and turned away to stare out of the window at the lights of the city below. He was furious. He felt as though he had spent the whole day chasing shadows and then he had got back to the lab to be faced with these two clowns. He forced himself to calm down. He took a deep breath and turned back.

"Dr Walsh said he sent a file on Stacy Daley to his counter-part in Miami. He would have passed it on the FBI Missing persons team. You knew who she was months ago?"

Wright nodded. "The file turned up about five months ago and a junior analyst made the connection. We put a team on her hoping she would lead us to her father, that we could make him turn state's evidence to indict Mason but nothing happened. There was no sign of him and after a month we had to pull the team off."

"I thought you had someone on the inside?" asked Danny.

"We do but Mason's a secretive son-of-a-bitch. He keeps his contacts to himself. He never lets the left hand know what the right hand is doing. And he's brutal. If he mistrusts someone they disappear. No trace. The only person who's been with him any length of time is Victor Gaunt. The others aren't trusted."

Wong butted in. "About four months ago our agent was asked to start searching small plane rentals for the time that Stacy's father disappeared.. Then about a month ago he contacts us to say that Mason is very interested in a small plane that was reported missing at sea during a storm off the coast of Massachusetts but our agent doesn't know why. Then last week he calls suddenly to say Mason has upped sticks and has gone to New York with Victor Gaunt."

"So you put someone back on watching Stacy?"

"Yeah but we didn't know he was planning to kidnap her."

"Where is he now?"

Wright shuffled uncomfortably and then sighed. "We don't know."