Chapter 6: Gone

A/N: I know I haven't been updating lately, but as I said in my other story, I got into a little accident. I'm back now and updating. This is the longest chapter I've written so far to make up for it so here it is.

Disclaimer: Don't own it, just borrowing, wish I did.

When Dani started to gain consciousness, the first thing she realized was a pinprick feeling in her neck and that she was cable-tied to a chair. She was blindfolded, which was good, it meant she had a good chance to get out of this alive. Why anybody would kidnap her and not to kill her? She was in the CIA, of course she had enemies, but all of them wanted her dead. She tried to focus on her surroundings, trying to get a clue as to who had her and what he wanted. She felt a breeze and heard birds chirping, probably through a window. Who kidnaps someone and puts them somewhere with a window? She thought.

Suddenly her mind was pulled out of thoughts as she heard a muffled voice, no hints of foreign tongue, pure English. She could make out "Inject her… it won't kill her yet… Yes…" she heard footsteps approaching and her head jerked to the side as she felt a stabbing pain in her neck. She immediately felt the drugs kick in, drifting in and out of consciousness before everything went black.

Jesse woke up shortly after he had dozed off and went to his temporary day job, unknowing what happened to Dani. When he was about to leave around five, he got a call from an unknown number.

"Yea?"

"Are you Jesse Porter?"

"Who's asking?"

"Is this line secure?"

"As secure as it's going to get, now who are you?" he asked again.

"I'm agent Lawson and I'm aware that you used to work Counter Intelligence for the CIA. You may not remember, but we worked a few cases back in '08?"

"Um, ok yea why are you calling? In case you haven't heard, I left the business." He said sarcastically.

"Yea, well we need you for a mission. We're keeping it as low as possible and we currently have a missing foreign diplomat, a missing agent, and a suspect who won't crack. You're the best we've had at interrogation in a while and we need your help." He paused, and then added "If you accept, we'll make arrangements with your place of work. This mission is high paying, a high risk/high reward type of thing."

"Only for this one mission?"

"Of course."

"Then I guess I'll do it."

"Okay, come to the office in Miami, do you know where it is? If not, I can send a car.'

"I know where it is. I need to make a few phone calls first."

"Fine, but do NOT give any details on the mission, we already have more than enough people who are aware of this situation."

Does he think I'm an idiot? He thought, but said "Okay."

He hung up and dialed another number "Yea Jesse?" Michael answered exasperated and annoyed.

"Hey Mike, just calling to let you know I won't be around for the next few days for jobs I'm busy."

"Alright I'll call Sam and tell him." Michael said quickly then abruptly hung up.

Dani fought to stay awake after the drugs started to wear off, desperately trying to figure out anything useful. Finally she heard that voice, the same one from before "No… this isn't about money… I want justice… I don't CARE!" he yelled storming in. He slapped her hard, letting his anger control him. Just as the stinging began to subside, he punched her hard in the stomach and she was unable to protect herself, only to hope that help would come.

When Jesse got to HQ, he was given a guest badge, went through security, and finally directed him to a room down at the end of a long hallway. He walked in and was greeted by a well-aged Agent Lawson, who handed him a folder.

He skimmed through it and closed it "You said an agent was kidnapped. Who? There's no name."

"Her name is Agent Danielle Pearce. Worked for a while in D.C., transferred to Mia-" he trailed off after seeing the color drain from Jesse's face.

"Dani's been kidnapped? When? How long has it been? Do you have any leads?" he asked frantically until he abruptly stopped, knowing he couldn't let his emotions get in the way or he'd never find Dani.

"You know her?"

"We're in a relationship. Before she was my friend's handler, we helped her get her fiancés murderer, and she helped get the killer of our friend's brother… long story."

"Well we don't have time for stories. Will your relationship with her affect your work?"

"It won't." he said determinedly.

"Okay then, sit down and let's get started. The case agent Pearce was working on before she was taken was the kidnapping of Yakov Alvang, a foreign diplomat. About three hours ago, his body washed up on the shores near North Miami."

"Well that should motivate me.' He muttered.

Ignoring the comment, he continued, "Since the kidnapping case has turned into a murder investigation, we need to focus on getting our agent back."

"Where was she last scene?" Jesse asked painfully.

"She called me at Yakov's house."

"Would they have any way of knowing it was her on the case? We need to know if she targeted or if they would've done this to any agent."

"I told her about three days ago that she'd be on the case, towards the end though, and no one else knew. It was unofficial, and the only paper trail doesn't have her name on anything. My guess is that if Yakov was alive for three days, then we have about three days. But for agent Pearce, they won't be fun."

Jesse had to use all his strength not to beat the life out of Lawson right then and instead answered "I won't let it take three days."

They spent fifteen hours searching for any leads, Lawson taking breaks every now and then, and Jesse working nonstop.

"Hey look, a few years back on an op she ran, Yakov was targeted. An unknown sniper fired, but one of his guards took the shot and later died in the hospital. She was Russian, but her husband's American and he went off the grid after her death. Makes sense, him wanting revenge for her death and him going after Dani and Yakov."

"What about a partner? Would it be just him, or more?"

"Well I'm sure there are plenty of people that would want either of them dead, people who would do anything to kill them. We can take a look at the file and check it out." Jesse said.

"We can't. That's classified info-" Lawson began.

"Don't give me that classified excuse! She's been kidnapped, it's only a matter of time before they kill her, and you're stopping me from seeing a file!" He started to break. The whole day and most of the night he had been strong, burying all emotions, but it was crumbling. He hadn't slept in God knows how long and even though he's stayed up for longer, the strain of worrying over Dani made it seem like days.

Agent Lawson knew what Jesse was going through, he really did. His wife had once been kidnapped; it came with the job, but for six days. Even though he got her back, he suffered badly. Jesse and Dani weren't married, but it was actual love.

Finally he spoke, "Jesse, go home, you're getting hysterical. You're no good breaking down and dragging of exhaustion. Come back once your calm and you've gotten some sleep."

Jesse didn't argue, rather he went to his apartment and crashed on his bed. He could only lay there, too upset and worried to sleep. He finally drifted off into a deep, dreamless sleep using the pillow she had used, inhaling the scent that was uniquely her.

Jesse. That was all she could think about. She had to stifle a laugh, it sounded so cliché, thinking about the one you love when you could die, yet it seemed to fit. After being punched and slapped repeatedly, she figured she had a few cracked ribs and tons of bruises. She was now trying to avoid the pain by thinking of Jesse. She wondered if he was worried, if he missed her, or better yet, if he even knew that she had been taken.

The blindfold was abruptly taken off and she looked up to meet two sets of familiar eyes. There were no masks, as soon as she saw this, her heart dropped knowing she was going to die.