About a month later and still without the Machine, Harold and his team aren't making much headway into finding Pasquale Gonzales and the children. Sameen and John decided to take Marielle and Charlie on a drive to see if they would recognize anywhere. Maybe they could point out landmarks or buildings that would lead to the discovery of where they had been held with Eileen.
After driving for about an hour - Marielle had fallen asleep - Sameen and John were starting to lose hope, but then Sameen looked into the backseat to see Charlie staring wide eyed and shaking.
"John, stop the car." Sameen said, turning to her colleague. Unbuckling her seatbelt, she climbed into the backseat, squeezing in between the two carseats. "What do you see, Charlie?"
The five year old pointed out the window, "We stopped here for ice cream. The guy wore glasses."
"The ice cream guy?"
Charlie shook his head, "No."
"The guy who took you and Marielle for ice cream?"
Charlie nodded, "Yeah."
John glanced back at Sameen, "Shaw, Pasquale doesn't wear glasses. This is one of his associates."
"Charlie, what kind of glasses did he wear? Were the lens big? Or small?"
"Hmm...bigish. Not small."
"Medium size? Bigger than Finch's?" Sameen questioned
Charlie just nodded.
Sameen hummed, "Oh...okay."
"Charlie?" John called, "Do you think you could recognize this man if you saw him again? Like if you saw a picture of him?"
"I think so."
"Alright. Stay here with Shaw. I'm gonna go check out the ice cream place."
About a month later in the warehouse, Eileen has grown closer with Charity, who is now nine months pregnant and ready to give birth any day now. There was a question that had been nagging on Eileen's mind since she first met Charity. It was only now that she had the courage to ask it.
"How long have you been here?" Eileen wondered
"Um...about seven years."
Eileen gave Charity a confused glance, "Why don't you just leave?"
"You know, I thought about it in the beginning, but he...the one in charge...he told me that if I ran off and left him, he would hunt me down and then murder my family."
"How do you know it's true though? Maybe he just said that to scare you."
Charity nodded, "Yeah. That's what I thought too, at the time. So I tried to escape, and when I failed, he returned a few days later with pictures of my parents. Dead."
"I'm so sorry." Eileen apologized, "But if your parents are dead, what's keeping you here now?"
"My son...Zayden. I can't leave him, and they would never let me take him. They would kill me." She spoke with a seriousness in her voice
Eileen let out a breath, "Oh..." She blinked, "Well, I have friends looking for us. I have faith that they'll find us."
"I hope so, but I'm not gonna count on it."
Back with John, he dropped Sameen and the kids off at the safehouse and then headed to the police station to talk with Lionel. Detective Fusco had gathered information about Pasquale Gonzales and his known associates. The list of names that John got was longer than he expected, and there were at least ten people on that list with glasses. He took a picture of each of the ten and sent them to Sameen, telling her to ask Charlie if one of those is the man with glasses.
"So do I even want to know what all this is for?" Lionel asked
"I'm working a case with the FBI."
Lionel just stared at John, "And how did you swing that?"
"You don't want to know."
"Okay. Well, what's the case?"
John glanced up from his phone, looking at Lionel, "Missing kids."
That was all John said, before turning around and walking briskly out of the precinct. Getting back into his car, John was startled when he heard a voice behind him.
"Hey Dad."
John felt like he had the wind knocked out of him as he turned around to see his son, "Buck, what are you doing here? You're supposed to be at the safehouse."
"Yeah, but I think I may have something that will help."
"Okay. What is it?"
Beckett shook his head, "No. Not until I have your word that you'll let me help."
John sighed, "Beckett, I don't have time for this. Just tell me what you know."
"Let me help me then, because we don't have time to argue about this."
"Fine." John agreed
Beckett felt proud of himself, "Right then. I remembered something about my uncle."
"What is it?"
"I overheard him on the phone once when I was a kid. It was after my sister went missing, but before he left me at the orphanage." Beckett explained, "Anyways, I heard him say something odd."
John gave a solemn nod, "What did you hear?"
"He said, and I quote, 'I can't believe you would do this to me'."
John hummed, "Hmm...interesting."
"Do you think my uncle knows the people who took my sister?"
"It sounds like it, but I know he's been trying to find her and he saved you by leaving you at the orphanage, so let's not jump to conclusion."
Beckett nodded, "Okay."
Hope you enjoy. Comments are greatly appreciated.
What would you like to see happen next?