Greetings. Pardon the delay. Balancing life and stories currently. Now, I know that the next episode to air on Flash is supposed to have the same basic plot, seen the previews. That said, I had already planned and penned this portion of the story when I found out about the episode airing tomorrow. sorry, but I'm not changing and I'm not trying to copy the show or predict it. At this point, I'm just writing how I would handle some stuff. So, forgive any similarities to what is going on in the show. This is pretty much my own creation from after King Shark on... That said, I hope to post the next chapter soon. We'll see. I'm trying to finish changes to Among the Living so I can keep posting on that and get back to writing this one! Hope folks are still enjoying this. Let me know what you think! Thanks! -CT - Oh, while my beta has read this portion, she's not taken her red pen to it, so all errors are my own! Sorry!
Chapter 5: Missing
Silence hung over the lab and Cisco tried hard not to fidget while the group waited for Harry to arrive. Looking around, the engineer then dropped his gaze to his phone. "So, it's been an hour. Shouldn't Harry be here by now?" Cisco held his phone up for all to see.
Arms crossed and eyes red from crying, Jesse frowned and let out long sigh. "He's not coming. He'll probably slink in hours from now and hope we've forgotten," she declared.
"Jesse, maybe he just got tied up at work," Caitlin suggested. She could understand the teen's anger, but at the same time thought she could understand Harry's actions. "I'll call Mercury labs." Pulling out her own phone, she dialed, and received the operator. "I'm trying to reach Dr. John Chambers," Caitlin informed the man on the other line.
"One moment, I'll connect you to the head of security," the bored sounding man informed her. There was a brief blare of waiting music and then the line rang again.
"Security," once more a male answered.
"Yes, I'm trying to reach Dr. John Chambers," Caitlin repeated her request, glancing around the group. Jesse still looked angry, Cisco looked bored, Barry looked a little worried, and Joe wore an unreadable expression.
"I'm sorry, he left an hour ago," the voice answered. "Can I take a message?"
"Yes, if you see him, can you please have him contact Dr. Caitlin Snow," she requested.
"Sure, no problem. I don't expect him in again until early tomorrow though." There was concern in the voice.
"I see. Well, I should see him before then so never mind about the message. Thank you." Sighing, Caitlin ended the call and looked around. "He's not there."
"See, I told you. He's off sulking somewhere, angry that he's been caught," Jesse ranted.
"Well," Joe began. "I can't wait all night. Call me if he shows up?"
"Me too," Caitlin agreed. "I have to go run some errands."
"Okay," Barry nodded. "I'll stay and hang with Cisco and Jesse."
"Thanks." Managing a smile, Caitlin collected her purse and jacket and started for the exit. Joe followed her out and to her car. When they got there, Caitlin frowned as she realized that the front driver's side tire was flat. "Oh, no!"
"Don't worry," Joe assured her. "I'm not the Flash, but I can change a tire. Can you get out the spare while I give this one a look?"
"Yes," Caitlin agreed and fished for her keys as she went to get the spare and jack. Kneeling, Joe started to examine the flat. Something glinted in the light and reaching out, he plucked it from where it had been jabbed. "What is that?" Caitlin asked, coming to stand next to Joe, leaving the spare to rest against the car.
"Looks like some sort of tranquilizer dart," Joe hazarded. Squinting, Caitlin reached out and took the little object. "Somebody jammed it in there pretty hard. No wonder you had a flat."
"Why would somebody vandalize my car with a tranquilizer dart?" Caitlin pondered as she studied the dart. "Looks like there's blood on the tip." Her eyes going wide, she looked up so that her gaze matched Joe's. "You don't suppose somebody was shot with this, do you?" Lifting his eyes, Joe took in their surroundings.
"If someone was, the security cameras should have recorded it," Joe observed, pointing out the cameras directed their way. Nodding, Caitlin took out her phone and quickly called Cisco.
"Yo, Caitlin, what's up?" Cisco asked cheerfully.
"I need you to pull up the security videos of the parking lot for today," Caitlin said seriously.
In the cortex, Cisco glanced at Barry and Jesse before moving over to sit at the computer. "Okay, why?" He asked as he worked.
"I have a flat tire," Caitlin answered.
"Oh, you want me to see who vandalized it," Cisco said, thinking he understood. He worked rapidly, frowning when he tried to pull up the data. "Looks like the two cameras covering where you usually park went down for about fifteen minutes," he reported.
"You guys might want to get out here then," Caitlin said, frowning at the end of the tranquilizer needle. "Bring my collection kit too, please."
"Uhm, okay." Brow furrowed, Cisco ended the call and turned his attention to Barry and Jesse. "Caitlin wants us to come out to the parking lot. She has a flat tire."
"And she needs all of us?" Barry asked, eyebrow arched. Cisco shrugged for his answer and went to get the collection kit. "Why do you need that?"
"No idea. Caitlin just asked me to bring it for her," answered Cisco with another confused shrug. Together the trio trooped out of the building and over to where Caitlin and Joe stood waiting. "What's up?" Cisco asked, approaching ahead of the other two
"Joe found this jammed into the tread of my tire," Caitlin answered, holding out the dart.
"Cool," Cisco exclaimed, reaching out and taking the small bit of silver metal. "Looks like some sort of delivery dart."
"Barry, help me get this tire changed," Joe ordered. Nodding, Barry glanced once at the object the two S.T.A.R. labs employees were examining before moving to help his foster father. "Here, you get the jack positioned."
"Right," Barry agreed, taking the item in question and stretching out on the ground next to the car. As he positioned himself and looked for a good spot to put the jack, he frowned, spotting something else under the car. "You found the dart in the tire?" He asked, pulling his sleeve down over his hand and then using it as a barrier as he picked up the phone.
"Yeah. Why?" Joe leaned over, curious to know what else had been found. Sitting up, Barry held the phone out, quickly standing and putting it on the hood of the card. "That was under the car?"
"Yeah, almost behind the tire, like somebody didn't want the casual observer to see it," Barry informed him. "I think this is Johnny's," he added.
"What?" Jesse's attention snapped to Barry, the angry look gone from her face. Pulling out her own phone, she frowned. "I have a missed call from him. That's weird, my phone never rang." Tapping at the screen, she glanced over at the other phone. On the hood of the car, the screen of the mystery phone came on, displaying a recent picture of Jesse. "That's Daddy's phone," Jesse mumbled, shock chasing all other emotions away. "Why was his phone under your car?"
"Okay, calm down," Caitlin ordered. Even as she spoke, Joe pulled out his phone. "Joe, what are you doing?"
"Calling in a possible kidnapping," Joe declared.
"What?" The other four looked shocked.
"Look, it we want the world to believe that he's Johnny Chambers and not Harrison Wells, we have to call it in," Joe reasoned. "If we don't, it will look suspicious."
"Right," Barry agreed, seeing the logic. "I'll start processing this as a crime scene."
"I have everything you need in the lab," Cisco said, already moving.
"Hey," Joe said into the phone. "This is Detective Joe West. I need to report a possible kidnapping. Yeah, I'm at S.T.A.R. labs and while the victim hasn't been missing long, there are signs of foul play." He fell silent listening. "No, log the report and then transfer me to Cpt. Singh and I'll explain it to him." There was more silence and Joe took the moment to move over towards Jesse. "Do you have your history memorized?"
"Yes," Jesse answered, fighting to keep control of her emotions.
"Good, because you need to be spot on when I report this," Joe informed her.
"I'll do whatever you tell me to do," Jesse agreed. "Just, find my dad." Sensing that the young woman needed all the support she could get, Caitlin stepped up and offered her a supportive arm around Jesse's shoulders.
Several hours later Jesse found herself with Joe and Barry in the younger man's lab at the CCPD. Joe insisted that they do everything properly, which included having Barry run the sample he'd swabbed from the tip of the tranquilizer dart. He was also running what little had remained of the dart's contents. Caitlin, Cisco, and Joe were all on hand for support. After processing the crime scene, Barry had made sure everything was properly logged into evidence and then started working on analyzing everything he had collected. The tip of the dart needle tested positive for blood so he opted to try extracting DNA from cells he collected. Once that was done, he determined that there was enough to amplify and test, so he asked Jesse for a comparison sample. While they waited for the tests to finish running, Joe went over everything with Jesse one more time.
"You're sure that's his phone?" He asked, motioning at the bagged item. Barry had included it in the evidence.
"Yes," Jesse agreed.
"Log only shows the call he received from you, and then about ten minutes later he tried to call you. Any idea who might take him?" Joe felt like he was just going through the motions. As far as the world was concerned, Harrison Wells was dead. Nobody should be interested in Harry.
"Zoom, but I don't know why he'd need a tranquilizer," Jesse hazarded.
"Guys, the mass spec is done processing the drug," Barry informed them. Pulling up the results, he frowned. "It looks like some sort of high dose tranquilizer, but I've never seen anything like it before." Coming over, Caitlin rested a hand on Barry's shoulder as she studied the results.
"This almost looks like something I might give you," Caitlin informed the crime scene tech. "This would take a normal person out fast and keep him out for a long time. At a high enough dose, it might even cause respiratory or cardiac arrest."
"They killed him?" Jesse asked, losing the control she'd clamped on her emotions.
"No," Joe said sternly. "We don't know that yet."
"Joe's right," Barry agreed. "We don't know if this has anything to do with your dad. Maybe he just dropped his phone."
"Sun's coming up," Cisco said softly, staring out as the red rays of light poured over the city.
"He wouldn't stay out all night pouting," Jesse informed them all. "Something had to have happened."
"The electrophoresis should be done soon," Barry said. "Then we'll compare your DNA to whoever's was on the needle." Glancing at the instrument, he pointed, "See, all done." A few clicks and he had the results pulled up on the computer.
"That's a parental match," Jesse informed no one in particular as she looked at the results. "That's my Dad's blood on that needle."
"Why would somebody take Johnny?" Cisco asked.
"Maybe somebody didn't take Johnny," Caitlin hazarded. "Maybe somebody thought they were taking Dr. Harrison Wells." A worried look passed around the group as silence fell, and Jesse's eyes filled with worried tears.