Dangerous Journey

Disclaimer: Don't own iCarly

A/N:

Chapter 6 (Hatching a Plan)

Sam watched the officer closely with narrow eyes and a tense jaw. Her hand rested on the frame of the door leading into his study. The man's back was turned to her and he was focused on paperwork, so she felt comfortable in checking out his office from afar.

The walls were hardwood, and the floor was a beige carpet. His desk was propped on the back wall with a window to its right. The windows were cloaked with long beige curtains that gave what Sam felt was a sinister touch to the room.

Pictures of the family framed the window, and yet, they were the only photos in the room. "What is Spencer looking for?" She knew the man wanted to get his sister back, but at the same time, she couldn't be sure what evidence he was expecting. Nor did she know how to get that evidence when this man was in the way.

When she looked to the left wall, she saw a different sight; a string of portraits lining the wall. Each bore the face of a man in their upper fifties and sixties, and each was in police uniform of what she assumed to be the highest rank.

As Cat said, David's photo was the fourth in line and he was wearing the uniform and rank of a Police Commander. Meanwhile his father's picture was just as intimidating as his son's. The man's face was stern, his cheeks sagged a small amount and his eyes were deep and pale.

The gold plaque on the man's frame read George Vega: Chief 1993-2003. Her stomach churned and she glanced back to David, remembering how likely it was that his father managed to keep the child abduction hidden.

She couldn't help but to wonder how protected he was now. If his father was retired, or no longer living, it was one branch obstacle she didn't need to worry about.

"Mr. Vega?" She leaned upright and watched the man turn. Sam wanted to converse, since it was the only way she'd get some insight from the criminal himself. He reclined his chair and hooked his left ankle over his left.

"Yes? Can I help you?" She mustered a polite smile and motioned to the row of portraits.

"Law enforcement seems to run in your family."

David's eyes lit up with pride. Sam had studied enough psychology to know that people-especially criminals-enjoyed talking about themselves. She figured if he could start talking about himself, he might wind up telling her everything she needed to know.

Though the likelihood of that wasn't remarkable.

"That's right. Though my father was the first to make Chief, I come from a long line of respectable officers." She took in a slow breath and attempted to process what this meant. It could say that David came a prominent and powerful family.

"You must be proud."

"That I am. I hope one of my daughters will carry on the family legacy." She raised an eyebrow and looked over her shoulder. It was difficult picturing Tori as a police officer, and she didn't know if Trina was anywhere near thinking about her future.

"I'm sure they will." She pushed her shoulder up against the doorframe and locked her right ankle over her left. "What about your mom's lineage? Anything special there?"

The corners of his mouth fell and his brow started to furrow. "My mother was in congress." Her heart stopped and her jaw fell open.

"That is…" Her words came out in a stammer and she had to clear her throat to be rid of the groggy feeling growing within. "That's impressive." She extended her arms and pointed her hands out to him. "And you're well on your way to becoming Chief of Police, so you're working hard to accomplish that, I presume."

"Yes." David tilted his head and squinted his eyes. "Why all the questions?"

"Tori and her friends were talking and I was curious." He turned up a smile and dropped his foot back to the ground. "I've always enjoyed learning about families that have their finger on the pulse of society, so to speak." She was clearly lying, but so long as he didn't realize that, everything would be fine. "Especially since my parents really weren't that prominent or successful."

"I see. Well, it's nice to see someone taking an interest I suppose." He scratched his chin and started to turn back to his paperwork. "But I am incredibly busy at the moment. I'm sure Tori will be more than happy to talk to you about her family."

"Yeah." She couldn't help but notice a lack of technology in the room. There was a dark briefcase standing up beside his desk, however. "You know, I'm surprised, usually there's a desktop computer in someone's office…"

David straightened his back and his head leaned upwards. His shoulders crashed as a sigh shot from his lips. "I don't own a desktop, I own a laptop." He pointed to his briefcase and looked partially over his shoulder. "I'm not incredibly good with modern day technology, so I don't have it out when I'm not using it."

"Got it." Her tongue slicked across her lips and her eyes fell onto the briefcase with great curiosity. "I bet all the evidence is on that laptop." All she had to do was give reasonable suspicion to Mr. Benson in order to open an investigation on David.

It would be difficult, but since Mr. Benson was higher in rank, there had to be officers more loyal to him than David.

One thought that was in her mind was whether or not David had forged any adoption papers. The man didn't get away with abduction and murder by being an idiot; there was a great intelligence that she sensed from him. Surely he would have thought of forging anything that unless verified would serve as 'proof' of the legitimacy in his custody of Trina.

"I'll leave you to your work, Mr. Vega. Sorry to bother you."

"It's no bother." He waved her off and kept his focus on his work. Sam took a deep breath and made her way back to the poker table.

The others figured she went to the bathroom, so they didn't look up when she sat down and picked up her cards. "How many hands did I miss?"

"Two," Cat answered, "So you didn't honestly miss a whole lot." Cat leaned back and snapped her fingers. "But we were talking about something, I wanted to invite you."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. Trina brought up the idea, actually." Her lips curved into a faint smile and she peered at the girl across from the table. "We decided Friday we're going to go donate blood. We think it's a great cause."

It was an admirable one. Blood that was donated went to those in need of blood transfusions or a number of other medical issues. She was surprised Trina was the one that brought it up, though.

"We're doing it also at the DNA center," Jade remarked. Sam raised an eyebrow at the girl. Suspicion surrounded them and she was beginning to wonder if there was more to what they were doing here. Jade straightened her posture and looked straight at Trina. "My mother works there and it's the cleanest place to go and donate blood or plasma." Jade folded her cards on the table and let out a heavy sigh. "Most facilities are clean, I mean, I just feel more comfortable there."

"A DNA testing center? Really?" She squinted her eyes and Jade shrugged. She wanted to call the girl out on this and ask her what the plan was, but she didn't think it was anything bad. In fact, there could be a chance Jade wanted to have a certain somebody tested against someone.

The only problem with that would be David wasn't likely to give his DNA to anybody. So no one could be tested against Trina. She had absolutely no blood relatives in town-at least there weren't any around that Sam was aware of.

It was possible that Spencer and Carly had some maternal relatives living here. If so, there was another strong possibility she could form an alliance.

Trina's eyes lifted from her cards and peered over at Sam. She caught the girl's curious look and lowered her cards so she could give the girl her full attention. "Do you think your friend and his father might be able to be there, Sam?" She jerked back and her eyebrows closed.

"Freddie and his dad? Why?"

"I'd like them to be. At least his father, you don't have to ask Freddie along." At first glance, she didn't know what good having the men would do. Her mouth twisted a bit and she scratched the side of her head.

The more she thought about it, the more she did see a benefit. "I could." A DNA test from Trina was very likely to arouse suspicion to her link towards David. If Mr. Benson were present to receive a sample of her DNA, he could take it to the police labs and test it against those in the database-which would include David.

It could be their first piece of evidence against the man.

Her heartbeat quickened with excitement and she mustered a bright smile. "I think I could manage that, actually." Furthering the process, the man could send it to Seattle labs and they could run the DNA against Spencer. The familial match would prove the biological relationship-but then there had to be proof that David did not legitimately adopt or inherit custody of Trina.

As easy as it sounded in her head, she knew the process couldn't be that simple. She already pegged David as an intelligent man, just the look in his eyes was enough to suggest a knowledgeable mindset.

If he so much as sensed Trina having a DNA test done, he could stop it. There needed to be a legitimate way.

There was something she recalled hearing in one of her college classes that had to do with inevitable discovery. If evidence was to be discovered inevitably, it could be used in the court of law.

Another scenario was if something happened outside Mr. Vega's realm of control, then he could do nothing about it.

Sam thought on this possibility, contemplating how possible it could be to have Mr. Benson fake an arrest of Trina and take her to the station, because David can't pull rank on someone higher up, there would be nothing he could do. In such a case, Mr. Benson could take Trina's prints and DNA and test it.

Still, she hoped this initial blood test plan could work out. "Saturday?" She asked one last time for clarification. Jade nodded and Trina started to smile. "I'm up for it. How about we keep it between us, though?"

"I should tell mom," Tori insisted, "She likes to know these things." That was fine. Holly appeared not to be talking to David, so she didn't think there was a risk of her informing David of where they would be.

In all honesty getting their blood drawn wouldn't be the thing to make the man keep Trina from giving blood; knowing that it would be at the DNA clinic where Jade's mother worked would be the clincher.

Do you think it will work, or is it like Sam believes, too easy? David is an intelligent criminal in this, and every aspect of life that his family has lived has been so meticulously planned and thought out. The only thing that gets him are the things that is out of his control or out of his realm of believing possible. Such as, he couldn't plan or expect that Tori would date a guy that wound up cheating on the sister of the child he abducted and he couldn't plan for that family to come to LA or for Spencer to spot his little sister. So do you think Sam should try for something that would be out of his control, or should she go with the obvious approach? Would David ignore an obvious approach?