Chapter 4

Day 4

It took two days. Two days of working around the clock and Stella knew that the team had reached their limit. She felt the tiredness settle in her bones and knew that if she sat still long enough, she would fall asleep. The screen blurred and refocused and she blinked against the strain. She knew if she looked in the mirror, her eyes would be starring back at her - red eyed and droopy.

She couldn't hide the worry lines anymore. She suddenly felt her age.

The tire tracks had come back generic. Adam had gamely continued reworking his code and she had ended up forcing him to bed an hour ago. She knew more than anyone that sleep deprivation was never helpful when you're trying to apply your mind to complex and difficult abstract concepts. Lindsey and Danny had settled on the couch in Mac's office, both unashamedly asleep in each other's arms. Her phone buzzed and she slipped out of Mac's office, answering the phone a short distance away.

"Sorry, Stella. There's just nothing for the boys to go on. "

Flack's voice sounded tired. She knew that he was working as hard as them to find any leads on Mac or his abductors.

"I understand. Go home, Flack. Get some sleep. And tell the guys, thanks."

"Yeah, ok."

She closed the connection. There was no time for drama. No throwing tantrums at the unfairness of it all. There was nothing for them to do right at this moment. No leads. No teasers. Nothing but an empty ache inside her and a gnawing in the bottom of her stomach.

She didn't want to even contemplate that they might've missed some vital clue.

That they hadn't done enough.

She turned blindly and walked away. The noise of the city woke her and she found herself down 55th Avenue. The moon was out, the stars barely shining through the brightness of the city. She found that her phone was still clutched in her hand and she wondered how she had gotten so far and not have been aware of the buzzing feel in her hand.

The number was unknown and she frowned. Staring at the phone and then her brain caught up and she warily opened it.

"You looking for that cop that went missing?"

Her heart skipped a beat and then she came fully awake. Suddenly aware that she was nowhere near the lab for a trace, she breathlessly answered yes.

"I've seen him."

All business now, she closed her eyes and turned to go back, her footsteps seeming to echo back at her from the buildings around her. "Where?"

"Is there some kind of reward?"

And then she realised. Her number is private. Only her work colleagues have it. There was no way this was just a random phone call.

"Yes."

"How much?"

She had no number to give him. No set reward had been set out yet. The search was 3 days old. Still too young for the politicians to be involved and she was acutely aware of how slowly the bureaucracy churned at One Police Plaza.

She made up a number.

"Not enough."

And then silence. She blinked, looked at her phone staring silently back at her. Wondered how that had happened. But she still hurried back, phoning Adam and feeling only a little guilty about it.

"Adam, can you trace the last incoming call to my number."

"Wha..", she could hear Adam wake up. She gave him little time to process. Little time to clear the fog of deep sleep she knew he must've slipped into.

"My phone. Someone called about Mac?"

She heard him take a deep breath. Heard a rustle that must've been his bedding. "Yeah. Just gimme a few okay. I need to get back. Uhm. Is he okay?"

"I don't know yet. Whoever it was that called me hung up."

She didn't want to go into the details. It felt too soon. Not enough time. She entered the building, her phone tight in her fist. Staring at it and willing it to ring again. But it stayed silent. Stubbornly so.

Danny and Lindsey were standing behind Adam as the tech was working his magic. Stella saw him rubbing his eyes, knew that they were burning from lack of sleep and staring at the computer screen too long. But of all of them, he was the only one really who could do this.

"Got it. 555-4546"

She barely registered the number. Her fingers were already pressing the buttons and she turned away, not wanting to see her own hope reflected back from her colleagues' faces.

All it did was ring.

No one answered and she suddenly felt disappointment settle around her like a blanket, refusing to let go.

"Can you triangulate the phone's position in any way?" she asked, ignoring the quick wipe that Lindsey gave her eyes.

"If it is an iPhone, then maybe. But the number isn't registered." Adam said, focused on the information in front of him.

"A burner. Untraceable?"

"I didn't say that."

Hope guiltily flared a little again.

Adam turned, serious and suddenly, he looked a little less innocent. A little more mature.

"I need a little space, ok." His eyes averted and then he was the old Adam again, pleadingly eyeing her from underneath his eyelashes. " Please."

She nodded, motioning to Danny and Lindsay. They exited the lab and she pretended that everything was going to be ok.

But to be on the safe side she tried the number again. Listening to it ring. Closing the connection and then trying again.

Maybe he'd answer and it would be Mac. Not some mystery voice that sounded threatening and rough.

Hope was sometimes a cruel creature. But she kept trying anyway.

Adam waited until the door had closed and he was all alone. Only then did he allow what he was about to do to sink in. The enormity of it hitched his breath but he knew that for Mac he'd do anything.

Opening a web page, he typed in a URL. One that he had never used but knew about from his techie friends. His hands felt sweaty and he wiped them on his pants. The code was there, to be used. But highly illegal and oh so wrong. If Mac was here, he'll gladly be fired. But Mac would be safe and if it cost Adam his job, then that is the road he'll gladly walk.

He took another deep breath and then started delving into the code.

Peter made sure he wiped the phone clean. He wrote a brief note and left it and the phone on the table.

He needed money. Badly. But what the cop had said was not enough. His dad needed more help and that cost money.

He thought that maybe this way he could help Mac Taylor out. And his own family. He felt a presence in the room and when he turned, he saw JJ standing in the doorway.

"What did you do?"

He shrugged. What was there to say?

"You promised you wouldn't call them. They left. They're not even here anymore, man."

JJ pushed him, and Peter stumbled back against the table. The phone tumbled to the floor, the note a brief white flutter against the dark before sliding underneath a couch.

JJ made a grab for the phone, his fingers scratching against the grain of the wood. But he missed as Peter charged at him. They both stumbled into the hallway, the fight messy and not one of them really landing any blows hard enough to draw blood.

"Oi, whatcha boys doing?"

They both stopped, glaring at each other as a huge islander made his way down the hallway. Peter knew him. Knew him to be a nasty mean drunk who had no compunction to hit others if he felt like it.

"Nothing man," JJ mumbled, shuffling out of the way. Peter stood his ground. He was tired of all this crap.

"You looking for something, boy?"

"No."

The other man leaned in, his breath stinking of alcohol. "Just cause your dad's sick, doesn't mean you don't show me respect, boy."

"Yeah, respect has to be earned."

Peter didn't see the fist coming. But he felt it. He reeled back into the wall and the second blow landed and he folded over to see a knee coming up to his face. He felt his nose crumble and then JJ was there, placating the other man and helping Peter up from the floor. The other man grunted and then turned away, making his way down the hallway and to his own apartment. Peter felt the blood drip from his broken nose as he tried to get breath back into his lungs.

"Man, you've gone stupid or what? Why'd you do that for?"

"Just leave me alone," Peter said, pushing JJ away. He ignored the hurt look on the other boy's face as he made his way slowly back to his own apartment. A moment later JJ slipped under his arm. He didn't say anything as he leaned against the other boy.

"Come on, I'll help you get cleaned up okay."