***************************************

“Pull over here,” Tophet pointed to an old beat up red Trans Am.  Martin pulled the Mercedes over.  Tophet pushed the door open and flicked her cigarette butt to the ground.  “Check ya later, guys,” she waved carelessly, not bothering to look back at the two men as she walked over to the Trans Am.

“Tomorrow, DeMarco,” Martin called.

“Yeah, whatever,” she mumbled, pulling the door of the car open and reaching in for her cigarette case.  She pulled a cigarette out and lit it with her nickel plated zippo.

“Morons,” she chuckled lightly, watching the car pull away.  She waved again seeing Martin watching her in the mirror.  She started up toward the steps of her apartment.

~~

She unlocked the door of her run down apartment and turned, closing the door behind her, and not bothering to lock it.  She knew it would not make a difference anyway if someone wanted to get in.

She slid her black leather jacket off and threw it on the badly disheveled bed that also served as the sofa.

She sat down on the edge of the bed and puffed her smoke.  She stared at the long dark scar across her wrist and shook her head.  The more she looked at it the more she craved escape from the thing.  It was the reason her whole life had been spent in dumps like this, or in the streets, in jail, drunk, high.  It was the reason her life had turned out the way it had.

She had given thought to how it would have been had things been different.  But things were not different.  And she had given up on herself just like everyone else she had ever known.  And those who had not given up on her, she had given  up on.

She stood up and made her way to the kitchen, she put the smoke out it an old ash tray on the counter. Then reached up in the cabinet above the sink for her sweet release. She breathed a sigh of relief just having it in her hands.

She carried it into the living room. She grabbed the end of the hide-a-bed, and folded it up into itself. Then put her stuff on the coffee table and sat down on the floor.

This was her ritual. Everyday, sometimes every night. Whenever life got the best of her, she drown herself in it. Then, she got high.

She took a snort of her coke, blinked back a little pain, and looked at her wrist again.

‘Oh yeah, abandonment,’ she smiled. ‘Leave everything behind, baby.’

Ten minutes later, she was laying on her stomach on the couch. She couldn't sleep, but she could not stay awake.  She was somewhere between dead and dying. Dead is better. It is always better.

She sat up as best she could, rubbing her wrists.&nbFor God's sake why did he not just kill her? Anything would have been better than what she had now. What she had then. Why could she not be the spoiled little rich girl on the good side of town? The female executive with the corner office and the prime of life?

No...she was here. This was reality. That was a mere dream. Maybe in the next lifetime....maybe.

She felt the tears in her eyes. They burned. Always! She just could not escape it!

She felt her nose running and reached up to wipe it away, realizing it was blood when she looked at her hand.  She slid off the couch and staggered to the tiny bathroom across the room.

She caught sight of herself in the small mirror above the equally small sink. Her eyes were red, there were dark rings under them, and she had blood running from her nose.

She stared for a minute. The sight was not something she needed to see right now. She drew back a fist and slammed it into the mirror. At first it did not break, but she just kept hitting it, until she finally hit it hard enough that it shattered. Pieces went everywhere. Her hand, the sink, the floor.

She threw her head back in aggravation. Not because of what she had just done, but because she had a mess to clean up. She felt no pain, paid no attention to the blood dripping on the floor.

Six feet under, and getting lower.

**************************************************************************

JD let himself into Standmore’s office, pulling the door quietly shut behind him.  The small office was militant in it's lack of decoration.  Not even the token citation or framed certification to give away the resident's identity.  The air was heavy with the taste of stale cigars and old coffee.  JD grimaced at the smell, then turned his attention toward the computer against the wall.

He flew through the first level of security.  Without missing a beat passwords and encryption’s fell aside.  The next level required more concentration, but soon it too lay open to him.  The directories were his.

Forty-five minutes later, the tedium of a file by file search was wearing him down.  He leaned back in the chair, tapping restlessly on the armrest.  On the screen his ‘bloodhound’ searched for any unusual files or programs.

He took a sip from his cup of coffee- his third for the day- and watched the animated dog ‘sniff’ for possible clues.  Suddenly it’s tail straightened and it began baying.

JD punched up the flagged file.

    <PARAMETER UNKNOWN>
    <LASTWILL.EXE>
    <PLEASE DEFINE>__

Sliding a disk into the floppy drive, he began copying all the files within the same cluster.  “Paydirt,” he happily told himself.

The program opened suspiciously easy.  A message screen popped up.

 “Well done!  If you've gotten this far, I am either a) in jail, or b) dead.  Not that the difference is  great.  If I am dead, instructions on how to access the information you're after will be forth coming.   If I am in jail...  Well, I'll be needing a bargaining chip, won't I?”

JD read the message twice, then began retrieving the information his way.  Standmore knew enough about computers to make it a challenge, but the man had no imagination when it came to protective programming.

He scanned over the information as it came available, his eyes growing wide with surprise.  He grabbed the phone off the desk and dialed the office upstairs quickly.  “Chris?...  Yeah, I got in all right....  I think you should come down here and take a look at this.... ‘kay, see you in a few.”

Not even a full minute later, the door swung open and someone entered.

“That was fast,” JD commented, not looking up from the screen.  “Check this out--names, dates, even a couple photos.  This reads like a who’s who in Denver organized crime.”

Realizing that Chris still had not said anything, JD started to turn around.

Bright lights exploded behind his eyes as something heavy crashed down on his head.  The world spun sickeningly, then darkened.

**************************************************************************

Just as I suspected, Vin said to himself as he headed back from the break room with his third cup.  He realized if he was not careful he would be on the ceiling because of all the caffeine he ingested so far today.  On his way back to his desk Chris came up to him, “Hey Vin, come on.  JD found something.”

Vin nodded and changed his direction towards the door.  Mel listened intently as she continued to study Standmore’s files from IA.  *I wonder...* she thought.

In the hallway Vin put a hand up to his face as he sneezed then shook his head.

“You okay, Vin?” Chris asked with concern.

“I’m *fine*,” he answered emphatically.

Chris rolled his eyes a moment but decided to keep an eye out on his sharpshooter.

They took the elevator down to the 10th floor and arrived at Standmore’s office.  Chris opened up the door quietly while calling, “JD?”  They entered the empty office.  Vin commented, “Where’s JD?” as he moved towards the computer.

Chris’s eyes narrowed a moment as Vin started working on the computer.  The sharpshooters quiet voice brought him back, “Uh Chris...”

“What is it?” he asked as he leaned over Vin’s shoulder.

“Look.”

They both looked in shock to see the hard drive had been erased.

~~

Mel watched the two agents head out of the office.  For a brief moment she wondered where they were headed then decided to push that to the back of her mind.  What she wanted was some more coffee.

When she walked into the break room she looked at the coffee pot and noticed it was empty.  After she was finished looking through all the cupboards she stood in the middle of the room and sighed.  *I guess I’ll just have to ask the guys where they keep the coffee,* she thought and walked out.

She walked back into the seven’s office and walked to the first person she saw, which happened to be Nathan.

“Excuse me, Mr. Jackson?” she said hesitantly.

Nathan turned around and looked at the young woman for a moment before he answered her.  “It’s Nathan.  What can I help ya with?”

“Where do you guys keep the coffee?  I couldn’t find it in the break room anywhere.”

“Oh, we must be out.  There is another break room downstairs.  The guys down there will let you borrow some.  They keep extra,” he said to her and went back to his desk.

“Thanks,” Mel said and headed out of the office and towards the elevator.

When the elevator opened on the next floor, Mel was at a loss as to where to go.  *I guess I’ll have to ask someone,* she thought and walked down the hall.

Most of the offices were deserted and she was becoming frustrated.  As she walked past another door she heard voices inside.  She paused and knocked on the door.  “Excuse me,” she started as she opened the door, “do you know where the...”

She stopped when she noticed who was in the room.  It was her temporary boss Chris Larabee with another man, *Vin Tanner,* she thought.

Chris looked at her for a second then asked, “What are you doing here?”

“Uhh...” she hesitated then answered in a small voice, “I was looking for the break room.  Uh...we’re...uh...sort of...um...out of coffee.”

Chris closed his eyes a moment then said, “It’s down the hall, off to the right.”

Vin, who was still at the computer, looked down a moment, “Chris...”

Chris turned around to face his friend as he was rising back up from the floor with a crushed Styrofoam cup in his hand.  Vin was saying, “Standmore would never leave this on the floor.”

Chris looked back at Vin a moment then realized JD must have found something big.  He knew they would have to find JD, and find him soon.

“What is it?” Mel asked.

“I bet it’s the cup JD was using,” Vin answered her.

She glanced at the monitor a moment and commented quietly, “Looks like a dirty erase.”

Chris turned back to her, his eyes boring into her, “Do you know anything about that?”

Realizing she was on the hot seat she answered, “I might be able to retrieve some files, but it depends on how everything was erased.”  She watched has her temporary boss and one of his agents glanced at each other.  She had the funny feeling they were talking to each other without using words.  She shook the feeling off when she saw Agent Tanner rise from the chair and Chris say, “See what you can find.”

She knew this was the chance of a lifetime, so she grabbed hold.  She nodded quickly and walked over to the chair Vin had just vacated.  When she sat down she spoke more for herself, “If he used a ‘bloodhound’ then there should still be a trail.”  The two other agents looked at each other then back to Mel as she got to work.

About ten minutes later she looked up from the monitor and keyboard, “I’m sorry, but this is all I could find.”  She pulled up on the screen a fuzzy picture of several people.  She placed a disc she always had on hand into the disc drive and copied the picture.  As the disc was ejected she looked back at the two agents.  “If you have the right equipment, and I figure you do, we should be able to clean this up back at the office.”  She kept the disc in hand as she rose from the chair and followed Chris and Vin out of the office.

As soon as Vin reached the hallway he abruptly turned to the right then said, “I’m gettin’ more cof-” he sneezed again.  “Damn cold,” he muttered as he left the two agents in the hall.

“Come on, Mel.”  Chris shook his head then headed off towards the elevator.  Mel paused a moment and turned to watch the retreating form of Agent Tanner then turned quickly and followed Chris to the elevator.

**************************************************************************

John looked at the still form in the back seat of the Mercedes and grimaced.  What was he going to do with JD?  Things were never easy anymore since he had met Team 7, and now another seemingly simple job was going terribly wrong.  Martin noticed his expression.

“Hey, you’re the one who didn’t want to shoot him,” he complained, interpreting John's grimace to mean he was upset to have a new passenger.  “It’s not like we could leave him there to tell them what he found.”

“Just shut up,” John muttered quietly.  “We shouldn’t have been there anyway.”

“What?” Martin spared a glare at his young companion.  “If we weren’t there the ATF would have that information from the computer and we’d be in the hot seat.”

“We’re already in trouble!  Do you think they’re going to take this laying down?  We’re just lucky we got out of there before Larabee and Tanner got to the office.”

“Larabee and Tanner?”

John was not phased by his slip.  “Yeah, don’t you keep up on anything?  How do you stay in this business?  Those two we barely avoided are part of this kid’s team.”

“Why would I bother with you here to remind me of everything, you’re a regular encyclopædia,” Martin said giving his shoulder a shove and ending the near argument.

“Let’s just get him back to Coe.”

JD wished desperately for the world to stop moving.  With every bump, bounce or sway; his head grew nearer and nearer implosion...or was that explosion?

What happened?  He could remember working in Standmore’s office...but then things got fuzzy.  Chris...Chris had come in to look at the files.  No--not Chris.  Someone else came in...Came in, and...Panicked, JD’s eyes flew open.

He was in the back seat of an obviously expensive car, his hands bound tightly behind his back.  He could hear voices from the front seat.

Quietly, he began testing the knot.  No luck there.  The cord was thick, plastic...jumper cables?

*Come on, JD.  Think.  What would Vin do?  He’d pull a MacGuyver and take them down with a safety pin.  Hmmm...Don’t see that happening.  Let’s see...Ezra’d talk his way out.  Josiah’d just pull his hands free.  Nathan’d have a knife or somethin’ hid.  Buck’d just be so loud, they’d _let_ him go.  And Chris?  Chris’d never be in this position.  That just leaves me.  What would JD do?  If I knew that, would I be having this conversation?  Which leads us to the next question...Why am I having this conversation?  I didn’t get hit _that_ hard.*

Frustrated, he turned his attention back to the situation at hand.

Silently, he lifted his head to look around the car’s interior.  Two men in front.  So far neither one appeared to have noticed that he was awake.  That gave him a slight edge.  He could hear traffic outside, so they had not left the city yet.  That meant they would be less likely to just shoot him.  Once he actually made it to the street.

He did not relish the prospect of diving from a moving vehicle, but he definitely did not want to stick around to find out where he was being taken.  The door nearest his head was locked.  He could not tell about the one at his feet.  If it was open, he had a shot.  If it was not...he would cross that bridge when he came to it.

He took a breath to steady his nerves.  As quickly as he could, JD pushed himself upright.  Swinging his legs around, he pushed himself into the seat behind the passenger.  His hand closed on the handle....

Nothing happened.  JD tugged on the handle again.  He fumbled for the lock but by then someone from the front seat noticed him.

Martin glanced back in the rearview mirror and saw that their captive was up.  He hit the breaks hard.

JD slid from the seat onto the car floor with an umph.

“What’re you doing?!” John exclaimed pushing himself away from the dashboard.

“He's up!” Martin exclaimed.

John looked back to see JD struggling to right himself.  “He’s tied up, he’ll be fine.  We’re almost there.”

JD looked up as the person turned away.  He did not get a good look at his face, but there was something familiar about his voice.

**************************************************************************

The sound of heels clicking on the pavement followed the reporter’s movements.  Mary Travis had just received a tip concerning a homicide in one of the dirtier parts of town.  Her hand was in her pocket tightly wrapped around the small mace canister Chris had insisted she carry with her.  She figured she would not have any trouble since the police were here, but one can never know.

She reached inside her purse and pulled out a small pad of paper and a pencil.  She flipped the pad open to the next empty page and placed the date and location on the top.

“Okay, lets see what happened,” she said to herself as she pushed to the front of the gathering crowd of reporters.  She glanced around and saw just the Denver PD.  She let out a sigh, *They wouldn’t be here, it’s just a homocide.*

“Officer!  Officer!” she called out.

One of the officers in uniform turned to face the crowd of reporters and responded, “All I can say at this time is this has been what looks like a double homicide.  We will have a news conference at the precinct later today when there is more information.”

Mary quickly scribbled down the precinct on her note pad then headed towards her Buick Station Wagon.  While she was climbing into it she saw a black Mercedes speed past.

**************************************************************************

Tophet stood in front of the old black and white TV she had found at the thrift store. She turned the knobs carefully, hoping for some sign of life. All she was getting was snow. She slapped the TV hard and just it off, then slammed her fist down on top of it. She would rather see it in little pieces on the sidewalk down below, rather than see it sitting in her apartment being used a roach motel.

She went to the window and pulled it open, then went back and grabbed the TV, yanking the cord out of the wall. Before she even got all the way to the window she had thrown the TV.  It took a chunk of rotting wood from the window sill as it bounced off. She leaned out the window watching the set fall. It hit the windshield of an old station wagon. The knobs on the set went chinking off in different directions, while the glass on both the set and the windshield shattered. The TV lodged itself above steering wheel.

A couple of large black men standing nearby, chatting with a few of the locals, looked up at her.  She was shaking with the laughter that welled up in her throat.

“Hey, lady!” one of the men screamed, followed by a few derogatory words. A beer bottle was thrown in her direction but did not quite make it.  The men started inside the apartment building.

Tophet backed out of the window and slammed it shut.  She turned and grabbed the jacket she had thrown on the couch earlier. It was stuck between the back of the couch and the cushions. She grabbed her cigarette case off the coffee table and bolted for the door.

She could hear the men pounding up the front stairs, so she knew the back stairs would have to serve as her escape.

She dashed down the hallway, and rounded the corner, running down another hallway.  She found the long broken emergency escape door and shoved it open. She paused a minute, not hearing anyone following her she decided to walk from here. She was actually glad that her high had not lasted.  Otherwise, she might be in trouble now.

She pulled her jacket on quickly, and shoved her cigarette case into her pocket.

“Check the back stairs, I’ll go back down front!” Tophet groaned when she heard the man’s voice again. He was heading toward the stair well. Luckily she was almost free.  She leapt down the last five steps, avoiding a homeless man who was sleeping in on the last step.  She exited the building only to run smack into someone.

“Hey, baby!” The man she had run into grabbed her arm. “Let me go, Jay!” She fought to loosen the grip he had suddenly taken on her arm.

“No, no, no, baby! Why don’t you come with us and have some fun?” He looked at his fellow ‘Bloods’, who all grinned at him.

“Not right now. Got something to do.”  She twisted out of his grip and tried to push through the group consisting of five guys, and two women.  Two of the men grabbed her arms. “Come on!” she hissed through clenched teeth.  Where was the guy from out front?  He would be a welcome sight about now.

“Let me go!” she screamed. Jay chuckled.

“I want you to come hang out with us, Tophet.” He ruffled her hair, receiving a ‘death-to-you’ look from the young woman’s cold blue eyes.

“Let me go,” she said quietly. “I swear-”

“You swear??” he interrupted, knowing how angry it made her when he, or anyone did things like that to her.

Tophet kicked at him, but he backed out of the way.

“Girl, we ain’t seen you for days, just come hang with us a while,” he said.

“I don’t feel like it, man!” she spat. “I gotta get out of here before Jameson calls the cops on me again!” Jay nodded for his companions to let her go.  He chuckled a bit at her.

Tophet marched up to him and stuck a finger in his face. “It's not funny,” she whispered.  She took a swing at him and he hit the ground, landing on his butt.

“Well, I'll miss you too!” he called after her.

Tophet did not even look back, she followed the sidewalk around to the front of the building and made sure the old man was not waiting for next to her car. He was not.  She ran to the car and climbed inside. She did not have keys for it, but when you turned the ignition it started up without the key.  She checked the flow of traffic and pulled out on the street.

**************************************************************************

Mary was sitting busy at her computer when she looked up at the clock on the wall.  She realized what time it was, turned off the computer and grabbed her jacket.  She was anticipating having lunch with Chris.  It was not often she was able to get the reserved ATF agent out of his office and into a more casual setting.

They met at a small Italian restaurant halfway between The Clarion’s office and the Federal Building.

She could tell something was bothering him.  “You want to talk about it?” she asked the man in black after they sat down.

He shook his head.

*Oh well, that didn't work,* she thought to herself.

After a moment she started talking about how her day had been.  “There was this tip about a homicide on the west side of Denver.”  She saw she had piqued his interest.  “It turned out to be a double homicide.  Apparently there was this nice gentleman being apparently robbed by someone.  Sadly enough someone else came up and shot both dead.”  She shook her head sadly thinking, *what has this world come to?*

“I remember seeing a nice, well it looked new, black Mercedes speed away from the scene,” she said offhandedly.

At the moment the Mercedes was mentioned Chris bolted upright in his seat.  “You’re telling me it was a black Mercedes?”

Realizing she hit a nerve she nodded slowly, “Yes, what was strange about it was the passenger in the backseat.  It was definitely someone you would not see in a car of that quality.”

Chris drummed his fingers on the table as his mind started working.  *Why would Standmore use someone off the streets to sell the mercendice?*  A thought occurred to him, *The morgue, I wonder...*  He decided to head there after lunch.  He pushed it all to the side for the moment and decided to enjoy himself for the rest of the hour.

That hour sped by way to fast for either of them.  After the meal was completed they reluctantly parted company.  Mary knew she had told him something that was important but could not for the life of her know what it was.  She shook her head as she left the restaurant and headed over to the precinct where the press conference would be held.

Chris entered the city morgue.  He brought out his badge as he spoke to an orderly.  “I need to see the bodies of the two homicide victims found earlier today.”

The orderly nodded and lead Chris to a wall of small doors.  He opened one and pulled out the bed.  Chris lifted up the sheet and saw a young man with a ponytail.  Chris shook his head and the orderly pushed the bed back into the wall and closed it’s door.  He turned and then opened up another door and pulled out that bed.  Chris lifted the sheet and almost dropped it, “Oh shit,” he cursed quietly.  *Standmore, what have you gotten yourself into?* he silently asked the corpse.

*This definitely places a kink in everything,* Chris thought soberly as he headed back to the federal building.  When he entered the office he called for everyone, “I need to see everyone in my office, pronto!” and walked into his office.

~~

Mel was working at her new computer with growing frustration.

“You know, for morons, they really got lucky with this information,” she said out loud to no one in particular.

Nathan was walking by and heard her comment. “Hey, Mel.  What’s wrong?” he asked looking at her frustrated scowl.

Looking up with a sigh she replied, “Well, Nathan, the hard drive from Standmore’s office is useless.  What wasn’t erased to begin with is now totally corrupted.  I don’t think there is any way to get this information fully without destroying it.”

Before Nathan could answer her, Chris stormed into the office. “I need to see everyone in my office, pronto!” he said before entering his office first.

Mel looked at the computer and printed what she could get from the information there, and followed the rest of the team into Chris’s Office.

**************************************************************************

The whole day had been some sort of cosmic insult.  That was it.  Everything from the burnt toast this morning, to the locked car door this afternoon.  One JD Dunne had been entirely too lucky as of late, so the universe decided remedy that oversight in one fell swoop.

JD uncovered this conspiracy of X-files proportions, as he stalked restlessly around the empty room.  It was small...less than three strides long and two wide.  Just big enough for two shelves worth of supplies, or one very agitated ATF agent.

“The least they could have done was leave something to read,” he complained to the bare light bulb.  Much longer, and they would not need to kill him, he would be insane.  He tugged irritably at the tape that held his hands behind him.   “C’mon.  Just get it over with,” he said, more for the sound than the hope that anyone would answer.

To his surprise, the door swung inward in response.  The two men from the car flanked a well dressed businessman.

“Come now, Mr. Dunne, patience is a virtue.”

Somehow his glib response to Ezra’s use of the same quote from this morning, did not seem appropriate.

“Not very talkative, are you?  No matter.  I’ve always found that a picture is worth a thousand words.  Mr. Long?”  As he stepped from the room he said, “Make sure Larabee gets the message.  I want him to know that the boy is alive.  For now.”

The implied threat sent chills through JD.  One of the men began assembling a digital camera.   JD took a half step back.  He definitely did not like where things were going.

The driver from earlier stepped forward, smirking cruelly.  “Nothin’ personal, kid, but....”  his words trailed off into a shrug.

The first blow caught JD high on his cheek, rocking his head back.  He twisted,  trying to avoid the second and third waves of attack.  His feet tangled on each other and he hit the ground hard.  He was dimly aware of the camera flashing in his face.

Martin Long chuckled evilly.  “Mr. Larabee, ‘you’ve got mail’.”

**************************************************************************

*Nothing!* Vin thought angrily to himself.  He had gone through the entire Federal Building looking for JD.  As he headed back to the office he started getting a bad feeling about it.  He knew Chris wanted him to look for their youngest agent, it was quite obvious to him so he decided to do it under the pretense of getting more coffee for the break room.  So his final stop was the break room on the 10th floor.  There he picked up several packets of their preferred drug of choice and headed back upstairs.  He deposited the packets in their own break room and proceeded to make some more coffee.  He was tempted to put two packets in the filter but then decided not to.  They would not be that thrilled to have the coffee he enjoyed.

He looked at his watch as he waited for the pot to fill, *3:30*

All of a sudden he heard Chris's voice, “I need to see everyone in my office, pronto!”

He knew that tone of voice.  He quickly filled his cup and headed towards the office.  When he entered the office he headed straight for Chris’s personal office.

He knocked then opened the door quietly.  Chris looked up to see Vin coming into the office.  Vin shook his head as he turned around and closed the door.

“Nothing?” the leader asked.

“Nuthin’.”

~~

Buck noticed the urgency in his old friend’s voice.  He grabbed his coffee and made his way into Chris’s office.  As he entered the crowded room, he looked around for JD, wondering what it was that the kid must have dug up on Standmore's computer.  JD was the only one of the team not in the room.

The serious tone of the short conversation between Chris and Vin did not go unnoticed by Buck.  Something was not right.  Last time he saw JD, the kid was headed for Standmore’s office.  Last time he saw Chris and Vin, they were headed for the same office.  And here Chris and Vin were without JD.  Something was not right.  Buck felt a knot tighten in his gut.

“Hey,’ he asked, “Where’s JD?”

**************************************************************************

“Come on, John,” Martin said as he turned to leave.  “Let’s get the pictures sent.”

“Just a second,” John replied walking over to where JD lay dazed on the floor.  “Let me get another shot.”

“Hurry up.”

“What, you don’t want to keep them waiting for a picture of their agent?  I’d think you’d want them to wonder where he disappeared to for as long as possible.”

“Oh they’ll still be wondering where he is, they’ll just know he’s not in good condition after they get the picture,” Martin laughed again.

Once he left the room John crouched down next to JD.  He grabbed JD’s chin to keep him from moving his head away and quickly checked over his face, assessing the damage.

“You lucked out kid, nothing’s broken,” John said releasing JD’s face and standing back up.  “Martin must be having an off day.”

JD was having trouble focusing, but there was something very familiar about the man above him.  “Who are you?” he managed to get out.

John smiled in a way that made JD feel even less comfortable.  “John Devin.”  With that he left the room and left JD lying on the floor to ponder his current plight.

**************************************************************************

Martin parked the Mercedes in front of the Westminster Law Library at the University of Denver.  “You’re sure this is the best place to send this from?”

“Yeah,” John said confidently.  “There are tons of students, they’ll never be able to trace it back to us.  Besides, it’s close and nobody will notice the suits.”

Martin shrugged and followed John out of the car and into the building.  John found a computer in the corner of the Learning Center and hacked his way into the system to get access to the Internet.  He made a new e-mail account then inserted the disk with the digital pictures saved on it.

Martin prowled around the room occasionally picking up a book.  It was not busy and he was not comfortable, not that a university library was ever a place he would really fit in.  The more people around the less likely anyone would remember them if the ATF did manage to trace the computer tracks back to the school.

“Done,” John smiled, taking the disk out.  “They should be getting the picture any second now.”

“Great, now let’s get out of here.”

“You don’t like libraries?” John’s smile grew.  As a person Martin was usually rude, often obnoxious, and definitely rough around the edges, but somehow John still liked him.  It was a shame how things were going to end up for him.

“No, but besides that, I want to get back and see what Coe wants to do next.”

“Probably sit around until tomorrow,” John pointed out.

“It’ll be better than standing here,” Martin answered, pulling John out the door with him.

**************************************************************************

Chris’s brow was furrowed. He sat leaning back in his chair behind his desk, his arm was propped up on the arm rest, and his hand hid his deep frown.

He turned Buck’s question over for a moment, not knowing what to say.  He honestly did not know what to say.  He looked at Vin who look uncomfortable and sick.

Finally he sat forward, resting both arms on the desk in front of him.

“We don’t know,” he finally said.  Buck looked as if he had not heard right.

“What was that?” he asked, turning his head slightly.

“We can’t find him,” Vin spoke up quietly.

“Can’t find him....” Buck repeated. “How long’s he been missing?”

“A while now,” Chris replied.

“How long is a while?” Buck stood up and walked over the desk, getting more
and more agitated by the second.

Chris looked down at his watch.
 
“It’s 2:30 now.  I’d say three hours.” he told him.

“Three hours?” Buck’s voice rose slightly. “Three hours, and you’re just now telling me?!”
 
“Simmer down, Buck,” Chris directed quietly.

“Don’t tell me to simmer down, Chris.” Buck looked the older man in the eyes. “Was there a note? A...a...anything?” he asked.

“Nothing.”

“Nothing? What kind of people come in here and kidnap an ATF agent, of all people, then don’t leave a note or...what if he’s hurt? What if he’s dead?  Why are we just sitting here? We should be out there looking for him!” Buck was pacing now.

Chris leaned back in his chair listening to his friend.  He would wait till Buck settled down before saying anything else.  He looked at the other agents and shook his head slightly.  His eyes wandered over to his computer screen.  He noticed that he had incoming mail.  He looked at Buck who was still pacing, waving his hands about frantically, speaking loudly.

Chris sat forward and clicked the ‘mailbox’ open.  It looked like junk mail.  He started to hit the delete button, but something told him otherwise. He clicked the mail open and the computer automatically downloaded the file inside the mail.

A picture appeared on the screen.  His heart actually stopped for a split second, as twinge of fear spread through his body.

“Buck,” he looked up at the ranting man.  When he did not seem to notice Chris speaking to him, Chris stood up. “Buck!” he snapped.

“What?!”  Buck abruptly stopped pacing and spun to face Chris.

“Come over here and look at this,” Chris said, pointing to his computer screen.  He hoped he sounded calmer than he felt.  He knew he had to remain calm in order to keep Buck from losing it.

“What is it?”  Buck asked as he moved to stand beside Chris.  As his eyes took in the picture on the screen, several emotions flashed across his face.  He went white with fear, then immediately red with anger.   He spun and slammed his fist into the wall behind Chris’s desk.  “How did you let this happen, Chris?  JD should have never been sent into Standmore’s office alone and you know it!”

Chris grimaced.  Buck was right.  Especially in this case, an IA investigation.  They were not even safe in their own building.

Josiah stepped forward and placed a large hand on Buck’s shoulder.  “JD’s gonna need us all  to stay calm if we’re going to find him.”

Buck ran a trembling hand through his hair.  “I know,” he whispered, “But I..I just don’t know.  He looks bad.  They’ve hurt him.  I just don’t know what I’ll do if we can’t find him before..”

“First things first,” Nathan joined in.  “Can we trace that e-mail?”

“Mel, see what you can come up with,” Chris said as he moved out of the way to allow Mel to sit in his chair.  “Josiah, why don’t you take Buck to the break room for some coffee.”

“I don't wa--”

Buck was cut off as Josiah steered him toward the door.  “Come on, Buck.  Let’s go get some air.”

Coffee was the last thing Buck wanted at the moment.  He was jittery enough without more caffeine in his system.  What he needed was something a lot stronger.

“I hope that little gal in there can come up with something.  I can’t stand this waiting.  Josiah, suppose the kid’s been hurt so bad we can’t get to him in time?”  Buck’s eyes reflected the pain in his heart as he considered the worst that could happen.

“Buck,” Josiah said softly, “You know how tough that boy is.  We’ve got to keep hopin’ for the best.”  Josiah really hoped that Mel could come up with something, too.  If they didn’t find a trail to start following soon, Buck was going to come apart at the seams and make matters worse.

“Sit down and relax before you wear a hole in the floor,” Josiah urged Buck.

Buck sat down across from the big man.  After only a few seconds, he was back on his feet, resuming his pacing.  “I’m going back in there,” he said as he headed for the door.

“Come on, now.  Give Mel some space to breathe.  Let me get you a cup of coffee.”

“Better make it decaf,”  Buck muttered as he sat back down at the table.  He resembled a madman with his hair unruly from running his hands through it.

~~

Mel took a seat at Chris’s desk as some of the team filed out of the office.

Watching as Buck left, Chris turned to her. “You think you can track this e-mail?”

Mel, bit her lower lip and nodded hesitantly. “I’m pretty sure I can do this, but it’s going to take some time.  I don’t want to screw this up.”  She paused and looked up at Chris,  “JD is really important to all of you guys, isn’t he?”

Chris nodded.

“I’ll do my best to help find him and make the bastard who did this to him pay,”  she said with so much venom in her voice it surprised Chris.

“Just do your best, but hurry.” Chris said, as he to walked out of the office.

Mel turned back to the computer to begin her trace. “That kid had better be fine when we find him or there will be nothing left of the guys who hurt him after all seven of us get a-hold of  ‘em,”  she muttered and began to type at the computer.

Vin followed Chris out of the office.  “Chris?”

He turned around to face Vin a moment with a question in his eyes.  A moment later he nodded then headed towards the break room.

Vin turned to see Buck now with his head on his hands.  “Buck?” he asked quietly.  As he spoke he placed a hand on the bigger agent’s shoulder.  When there was not a response he said a little bit louder, “Buck?” and gently shook his shoulder.

“Wha-” was the response as Buck raised his head.  Vin almost lost it when he saw Buck’s face, especially his eyes.  They were red-rimmed and empty.

“Come on, let’s go.”

It surprised Vin to no end when Buck meekly rose up and started following him out the office.

Vin passed Chris and whispered, “Wish me luck.”

Chris nodded and closed his eyes with regret.

**************************************************************************

JD rubbed his wrists absently, the skin was still tacky from the tape.  He balled up the shredded tape and tossed it into a corner.  He tucked the short screw he'd used to free himself into his pocket.  It was not much by way of a weapon, but it was a start.  One problem down, he did not even want to consider how many left to go.

Gently he probed the bruises on his jaw and cheek bone.  There did not seem to be any serious injuries, and he got the feeling that Long had been holding back.  That coupled with the fact that only his face had been hit, meant his injuries were for show.  As his fingers brushed the knot just above his ear, he grimaced, the expression tugging at his split lip.  Okay, so they were not entirely for show.

He was bait.

A distraction to keep the guys from getting to close.  The realization actually stung.  This was not the way things worked.  He was on the case, damnit, not part of it!  Besides, unless things had changed since this morning, the rest of the team did not have much to work from.

Sitting around feeling sorry for himself was not going to get him anywhere.  JD pushed himself up from the floor.  He studied the small room carefully.  The door was locked from the outside.  And judging by the shuffling sounds he could hear through the door, someone was keeping an eye on it.

“Okay.  Just have to think this through.”  JD began to pace as he spoke to himself.  “The info on Standmore’s computer has something to do with this whole mess.  So, what do you know about Standmore?  He was going to betray everyone in the end.  The ATF, his partners, contacts, everyone.  The information on the computer was a start, but he said there was still something for his plea bargain.”

JD began mentally running over the files he had scanned.  Nothing that indicated hard evidence jumped out at him.  “Okay.  Standmore knows that IA is on to him.  He plants enough on the computer to ensure himself a deal.  Hides it behind a token security program that anyone with a little time and skill could break through.  Why?  Because he wants it to be found.  That means he's got the rest of his evidence stashed somewhere.”

Fascinating, but it did not do him any good at the moment.  Next puzzle--Where did his host fit in?

He recognized the man in charge as Alan Coe.  His name came up from time to time on other cases.  Coe was normally a small time player with a penchant for covering his tracks well.  Standmore’s shipment seemed to be out of Coe's price range.  Unless they had been reading the man wrong all along.

The only thing JD knew about Long, was that the man had one hell of a right cross.  He was obviously hired muscle.  It was his partner that had JD interested.  He could not shake the feeling of familiarity.

John Devin...John Devin...No, the name was all wrong.  The face too.  It was thinner than when he had seen it last.  The hair was darker.  And the eyes...they should be...hazel.  Hazel eyes!  The pieces clicked into place.

“That son of a--”  The oath died in JD’s throat as he heard a key turn in the lock.

**************************************************************************

They were occupying a booth in a private corner of The Saloon.  Vin had ordered a Corona.  Buck just sat there looking down.  Vin looked up at Inez a moment.  She first had a surprise look in her face considering the time.  After one look at the two federal agents she knew something was up, nodded and headed back towards the bar.  She knew Buck needed something more than just beer.  Soon she returned with the beer and a bottle of whiskey and a glass.  She placed them on the table while saying quietly to Vin, “Not too much now.”

Vin nodded and poured a glass for Buck.

He ignored it.

“Come on, Buck,” Vin said quietly.

His head was hanging down, “How can I since JD’s out there, possibly dead.”

“We don’t know that.”  He raised the Corona up to take a drink when a thought came to him.

He quickly put what they owed on the table.  As he stood he said, “Come on Buck.”

**************************************************************************

“I’ve got it!”

Mel’s triumphant exclamation brought both Nathan and Ezra to their feet.  Nathan began pulling his jacket on.  He noticed Ezra checking his sidearm.  “What’s the address?”

“No, I meant I found the ISP server.  It’ll take me a little while to narrow down which user sent e-mail.”

“Oh.”  Nathan could not quite keep the disappointment out of his voice.  He knew Mel was working as fast as she could.  He stepped away from the door of Chris’s office and moved to where he could watch over Mel’s shoulder.

Mel watched the screen intently as the computer began systematically tracking the e-mail message back to it’s origins.

Nathan watched the screen begin to scroll on its own.  It might as well have been in another language for all he understood.  As Mel pulled up the e-mail, an idea occurred to Nathan.  “Can you tell what time the picture was taken?”

Mel studied the screen thoughtfully.  “I think so.  That data should be buried within the coding.”

Ezra gave him a curious look.  “What do you have in mind, Mr. Jackson?”

“If we can find out how much time elapsed between when the picture was taken, and when the e-mail was sent...”

“...We'll have an area to start searching,” Ezra finished the thought for him.

**************************************************************************

They were back in Vin’s jeep when they heard the ring of a cell phone.  Both agents automatically reached for their phones.  Buck realized it was not his so he put it up.

“Tanner here....WHA......ok, we’re coming back right now.”

Vin quickly slapped the phone shut and looked over to Buck.  Buck had an almost hopeful look to his face.  Vin started, “That was Chris.  Standmore’s dead.”

Buck nodded, “Let’s get going then.”

~~

The elevator dropped them off on their floor and they quickly headed back to the office.  They entered and found the Chris and Josiah gathered around one of the speaker phones and speaking to someone.

Chris nodded to the two agents while continuing to speak, “That’s all we have so far Judge.”

“I see,” came the response from AD Orin Travis.  He continued, “I haven’t heard from Tanner or Wilmington, where’re they?”

“Right here Judge,” came Vin’s soft answer.  “Buck’s here too,” he answered for Buck.

“Have you come up with anything?” Travis asked again.

“Standmore might have something stashed at his house.”  Vin looked at Chris a moment then continued, “We were about to head over in that direction when Chris called to tell me...uhh...us about Standmore.”

“Alright.  Well, Chris, I expect to be informed about everything.”

“Yes sir,” Chris answered as they heard the line go dead.

**************************************************************************

JD squared off to the door as it swung open.  His hands were not bound this time.  Anyone who thought he was an easy target had another thing coming.  He had taken one undeserved beating so far today, they would have to work for the next one.

Alan Coe stood in the door frame, flanked by a pair of muscle bound thugs.  JD was actually relieved that Jeff--John Devin was not with them.  He was not sure he could deal with the other man at the moment.

Coe looked him over appraisingly, taking in the bruises and untied hands.  “You don’t seem too badly off.  I would have thought Long to be more thorough than that.”

“Really ought to teach your pet gorillas to take a little pride in their work, Coe.  I got back up.”

“So you did recognize me.  That of course makes my life more difficult.  I’m fond of Denver, and frankly, have no desire to relocate.  That of course means you’ll have to go.   Unless there’s some reason I should keep you around.”

JD knew what he was being offered.  Coe was giving him a chance to sell out before he was killed.  “You honestly think you’re gonna get away with this?  I hate to break it to you, but your goon squad wasn’t quite as efficient as you thought.  I sent everything to the network.  It’s just a matter of time before someone finds the file and opens it.”

Coe did not so much as flinch.  “Nice.  Do they teach bravado at the academy, or do you guys come with it built in?  That information was completely destroyed.  Unfortunately, they didn’t find everything.  I have people searching Standmore’s residence as we speak, but I doubt they'll find anything.  If Charles was anything, he was careful.”

“Was?”

“Yes, was.  He had a rather unfortunate accident.  Now where did he hide the hard evidence?”

“How should I know?  I didn’t even know the man.”

“No, but you’ve had access to the most intimate details of his life.  You help me find what he had stashed and I'll let you live.”

“As long as we’re talking in clichés...What if I refuse?”  JD challenged.

“Then I kill you,” Coe said, so casually he might have been talking about squashing a spider.

JD swallowed hard.  It was the answer he had expected, but that did not make it easy to hear.  “You were going to do that in the first place.”

Coe nodded.  His smile was oily as he pointed out, “But then it was just to remove a witness.  Now you force me to make a point.”  He held out his hand expectantly.  One of the body guards handed him a familiar wallet.  Coe flipped though it, pausing at several pictures.  “You see, it isn’t just about you anymore.”

He held up one for the bodyguards to inspect.  JD knew instinctively which one it was.

“She’s quite lovely.  Does she know how dangerous your line of work is?  I’d hate to see any harm come to such a young thing.”  His tone turned ice hard.  “You have one hour to decide.”

**************************************************************************

“I got it!” Mel shouted startling Ezra and Nathan who were quietly drinking coffee and sprawled around the room.

“You found the origin?” Nathan asked, making sure he did not get his hopes up again only to be disappointed like last time.

“Yes,” she said as she looked up at him smiling, “it’s at some school library.”  She looked at the two men and motioned for them to follow her. “Let’s go tell, Chris and check this out.”

As they walked out of the office Ezra turned to her. “You realize that our suspects will no longer be in the vicinity and being a library, our leads sparse?”

Mel gave a short nod, “Yes, but it’s all we have right now.”

**************************************************************************

John looked at her blandly.  “No, but if you want to start a bar fight it’ll give us something to do.”

Tophet scowled at him.  “He started it,” she said kicking at the unconscious man.  “He was getting grabby.”

“Heaven forbid,” Long sneered.

“Why are you here?” John asked point blank.  He had other things on his mind right now, he did not want to deal with this punk kid.

“I had some trouble at my apartment and I decided to get a drink,” she shrugged.

“You’re underage,” he pointed out.

“But I’m old enough to do dirty work for your boss,” she shot back.

“This trouble involve your hand?” he asked ignoring her response and noting the bloody bandage wrapped around her hand.

Tophet did not answer and John sighed.  *Let Martin deal with her.*  He smiled a little, *I wonder how long until he ends up on the floor, too.*

Devin jumped over the bar and walked toward the bartender.  “Card people once in awhile,” he said cuffing the man on the back of his head.  The bartender gave him a dirty look as he disappeared into the back room.

John entered just as Coe and his goons were leaving the storage closet.  He nodded in greeting, his standard form of communication around the boss.  Waiting until they went into the bar, he turned to the closet.

JD had not recognized him before, but he did not know how long that would last.  He had been thinking that just avoiding him might be the best plan, but he knew that would not work out if he intended to keep JD alive until his friends could find him.

Deciding a peace offering might help this introduction go better, he grabbed a glass and filled it with water for the captive agent.

**************************************************************************

Mary continued to tap the pencil on her pad.  *They said in a little bit.  I should have known a ‘little bit’ would stretch into a whole day with the police!*  She let out a sigh then glanced at her watch.  *Okay about 10 till 5. I'm glad I called earlier for Evie to pick Billy up from school.*

She sighed again and looked around.  She could tell the other reporters were just as fidgety as she was.  She noticed the movement stopped.  She turned around and saw an officer come up to the lectern.

*Hopefully, now,* she thought angrily.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I’m sorry to keep you waiting.  I am Officer Thomas Mathis and the senior officer assigned to the double homicide discovered this morning.”  He looked down a moment then continued, “We have identified one of the victims.”

Mary leaned forward ready to get the information.

“His name is Charles Standmore, age: around 48, occupation: works as an agent for the federal government.  The younger man has not been identified as of yet.  What we do know is the younger victim confronted the older one.  During the altercation Standmore was killed.  Later the other was killed at the same scene.”

*Now this is interesting,* Mary thought as she scribbled furiously.

“So far the only motive is robbery.  Until we have more information, that is all.”  Officer Mathis quickly turned around to head back into the relative safety of the police headquarters as a storm of questions battered the lectern from the reporters.

Mary quickly put her notebook back in her purse and quickly headed out of the room.  *I think Chris needs to know about this,* was the only thing going through her mind as she got into her station wagon.

**************************************************************************

Ezra, Mel, and Nathan reached Chris as he hung up the phone.  “We’ve got an origin,” Mel said holding up the paper she’d written the address on.

“Good, why don’t you three go check it out, the rest of us are heading over to Standmore’s house and see what we can find,” Chris told them.

“It’s a library at DU,” Nathan explained.

Chris cursed under his breath.  “Go there anyway, maybe someone saw something unusual.”

“There is one possibility for a lead,” Ezra added.  “Miss Branz has discovered that the picture was taken within a half hour of you receiving it.  That should narrow down the area they may be located in, assuming they haven’t moved.”

“Assuming isn’t going to get us anywhere!” Buck interrupted, running a hand down his face.  If he kept it up he might manage to rub off his nose.

“Keeping solely to the evidence we have, at the very least we know they were within a half hour of the Park Hill Campus in East Denver, during the lunch rush, and that Mr. Dunne had been beaten and appeared to be in some small room,” Ezra replied crossly.  Buck was not the only one worried about the young agent.  “The best we can hope for right now is to find part of their trail.”

Chris held up a hand to stop any further discussion.  “Call us if you find anything.  I think JD was probably just a victim of circumstances, he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.  There may be something that can lead us to who has him at Standmore’s place.  We’ve still got arms and a deadly virus to find, people, let’s go.”

**************************************************************************

JD did not look up as the door opened again.  “You said I had an hour,” he said tightly.

It was not Coe's condescending tone that answered him.  “I brought you some water.”

JD looked up at him dumbfounded.  Water?  He wanted out of there.  Not a drink.  “What’d you put in it?”

John held the glass out to him.  “Nothing.  It’s just water.”

Relaxing, JD reached for the offered cup with his left hand.  At the last moment, his muscles bunched.  His right fist lashed out, striking John squarely on the jaw.

A long moment of silence passed.  JD stood tensed, waiting for the fight he could see rippled through John.

John gingerly tested his jaw.  “Okay, I had that one coming.  Feel better?”

JD half-smiled. “Not even remotely.  But it’ll have to do for now.”

“You’ve been spending entirely too much time around Larabee.  He doesn’t have a sense of humor either.”  John handed him the dripping, half-full glass.

“Sorry I’m not better company, but you kidnapped me,” JD snapped back at him, but his heart was not in it.  The anger he had built up in defense was slipping.
 
Sensing that JD was willing to at least listen to him now, John offered an explanation, “It was that, or let Long shoot you back there in the office.”

Anger spiked again.  “Oh, and I’m so much safer here.  Let me thank you again.”

“That’s okay. I heard you  the first time.”  John actually chuckled as he took a half step back.

JD slowly drank the water, ignoring the hunger it awoke.  He fidgeted with the cup for a moment.  Devin was still a mystery.  JD knew virtually nothing of his past or motives.  Everyone on the team had different feelings about their former co-worker, but JD had never worked with him.  What he did know, was that in one hour Coe was going to make him chose between love and honor.  And Devin was a close to an ally as JD was likely to find.  “Jeff-” he started softly.
 
“Do you want to get us both killed!?!” Devin hissed the question through clenched teeth.

“Sorry.  I need to get a message to Chris.”

John shook his head.  “Forget it.  I can’t risk my cover.”

“They’re gonna use someone I care for.  I can’t protect her.  Not now.  Not this time.  But she doesn’t deserve this.  She’s never even heard of Coe or Standmore.  I can’t let her get killed because of me...  Please?”

**************************************************************************

Tophet watched John jump over the bar, and shoved past Martin to get back to her seat, only to have him grab her arm again.

“Where do you think you're going?” he raised an eyebrow, the slightest hint of a smile on his face.

“Back to my seat.”  Her tone was a bit sarcastic, and a bit irritated.

“No, you're not.” He pulled her towards the door.  Tophet extracted her arm from his fingers.

“No, *you’re* not,” she replied snappishly.  Martin’s head rolled back in irritation.

“Kid, make this easy on the two of us.” He looked back at Tophet only to see her walking back to the bar. “Does your mother know what you have to do to make a living?” he asked, walking over.  She paused, holding a new drink to her lips.

“My mother’s dead.”

“Aw, I’m sorry to hear that.  I bet you pulled it off yourself, right? You did your whole family.  They never saw it coming,” he nodded.  Tophet turned to him, fire in her eyes.

“Piss off, windbag,” she shoved him.

“Ooh. You are a tough one.  But you know, I don’t really think she’s dead.  I bet you ran away.  That’s the way it always is.” He turned away with a grin, and started toward the back.

Tophet jumped off her stool and followed him.

“What the hell do you know about it?  What makes you think I didn’t have a choice of being here?” she spat, standing at the end of the hall. “Obviously not enough.  Now get outta here, kid.  You’re disturbing the customers.” He waved his hand, as if brushing her off without a second thought.

She kicked the wall angrily.  If she had a rope she would hang that son-of-a-.....

She heard talking somewhere down the hall, almost arguing.  Devin and another man.  She tip toed quietly until she stood outside the door.  She listened, there was a sound like someone being hit, then silence for a moment.  Tophet strained to hear.

She listened to them talking quietly, almost going into cardiac arrest when she saw John’s back in the doorway.  She turned to go, but stopped when things got interesting.

“Jeff-”

“Do you want to get us both killed!?!”

“Sorry. I need to get a message to Chris.”

“Forget it. I can’t risk my cover.”

“They're gonna use someone I care for. I can’t protect her. Not now. Not this time. But she doesn’t deserve this. She’s never even heard of Coe or Standmore. I can’t let her get killed because of me... Please?”

Tophet smiled.  This was good.  This was really good.  Coe was going to love this...she was going to love this.

John stared at JD’s pleading look a long time before answering.  “What did Coe say?”  As informed as John tried to be, he had not had the best of luck staying on top of everything Coe was doing.  Coe did not let his plans see the light of day until they were about to be put into action.  John could not throw away cover by pursuing a small detail too intently.

“He wants me to get info for him on Standmore or he’s going to hurt my girlfriend, Casey,” JD replied, taking the question to be a good thing.

John snorted.  “What’s the problem?”

JD looked at him blankly before questioning as loudly as he dared, “What’s the problem?!”

“Try to get him the information, it’s not like that can hurt you.”

“It wouldn’t be right!”

“It’s likely to be your best chance to get out of this mess.”

JD shook his head. “I need to get a message to Chris.”

“Do you have any idea what you’re asking?” John scrubbed a hand through his short black hair.

“Not very much,” JD answered with conviction.

John chuckled then seemed to change the subject.  “The last time I saw Chris was watching you guys find Buck and Ezra’s bodies.  The was such relief on his face when Nathan said they were just drugged and covered in blood, not shot dead.  And when Buck came to, it might as well have been Christmas morning,” he paused, looking hard into JD’s eyes.  “You rarely see as big a mood swing as Chris had when Buck started to explain what had happened, from his distorted point of view, I might add.”

“You pretended to die,” JD pointed out, not seeing where this conversation was going.

“It wasn’t all pretend,” John rubbed his jaw at remembered pain. “You think Long was bad, wait until you take a beating on video just to convince a few ATF agents you had a very unhappy end.  Most people would be happy to find out someone they thought was decapitated and burned beyond recognition was actually alive and well.”

“Alive and well dealing arms.”

John sighed.  “Look, I’m not going to explain everything I’ve done, but I will tell you I’m not going to contact Larabee for you.”

JD’s face hardened as John turned away.  He should have taken some more shots while he had the chance.

“You can call him yourself,” John finished tossing a cell phone to him.

“Thanks.”

“Hurry up, I’ve got a bad feeling everything is going south.”

**************************************************************************

Upon arriving at the University of Denver--Park Hill Campus, Mel, Ezra, and Nathan walked into the building with a sign that said Westminster Law Library, and approached the front desk.

“Excuse us, ma’am, but could you tell us who was working here about 2 1/2 hours ago?” Nathan said after getting the librarian’s attention.

She looked over the group with suspicion, “I was.  What can I help you with?”

Mel then walked up to the counter next to Nathan and answered her. “Well, Miss...” she paused waiting for the librarian to fill in the blank.

“Nancy Commins,” she obliged her.

“Miss Commins, we were wondering if you happen to have seen anyone strange around the library.  Specifically, the computers.” Mel looked at Nancy with a hopeful look.

Nancy frowned at them. “Not that I remember.  Can I ask what this is about?” she inquired, her curiosity getting the better of her.

“Ma’am, we are with the ATF and we have reason to believe a suspect has made use of your computer systems.  If you would be so kind as to help us out, we would be very grateful.” Ezra said as he to walked up to join Mel and Nathan at the counter.

Nancy blinked in surprise. “Um, well, OK.  You might want to talk to Adam Thomas.   He is usually by the computers.   He’s been in here for the last 4 hours.  He might have seen something.” She offered them.

Mel looked at the others then turned back to Nancy. “Thank you.  What does Mr. Thomas look like?” she asked while looking over toward the computers.

Nancy pointed to a dark haired individual wearing a blue flannel shirt and faded blue jeans. “That’s him right there.”

Nathan nodded at her then walked over to the young man with Mel and Ezra.  Mel studied Adam as he worked by the computer.  The desk was a mess with multiple books open at different pages along with loose papers and a couple of notebooks opened revealing scrawled writing that she could not make out.  Adam was currently looking at one of these notebooks typing furiously at the computer.

“Excuse me, Mr. Thomas?” Mel said hesitantly and softly, not wanting to startle the man.

Adam jumped anyway and turned around and looked at the three agents. “Yes?” he questioned in confusion.

“Have you been working here in the last 3 hours?” Nathan asked him.

Adam frowned in confusion as the question sunk in then answered him.  “Um, yea.  What’s this about?”

Ezra showed him his badge.  “We wish to inquire whether or not you have seen any unusual individuals using the computer terminals while you have been working here,” he said as he put his badge back into his jacket.

Adam frowned again, thinking, then looked up. “Yea, there were these two guys in suits.  They were only here for a few minutes, but people like them don’t come in here that often,” he said as he remembered the men.

“People like them?” Mel asked catching the phrase.

“Yea.  They aren’t your typical law students, that’s why I noticed them.  They were too up tight and fidgety.  They were talking about something, but I couldn’t hear them,” Adam explained to the agents.

“Can you remember what they looked like?” Nathan asked hopefully.

“Yes.”

“Do you think you could come with us to our office and talk to our sketch artist?”

Adam looked from them to his chaotic pile of papers and books. “I guess so,” he finally answered. “But can you wait for me to clean up this mess and save my work?” he asked.

Nathan looked at the mess and then turned to Mel and Ezra. “I’ll bring him to the office.  Why don’t you guys head over before us and let Chris know what we got.”

Mel and Ezra nodded and walked out of the library, thanking Nancy for her help on their way out, and headed back to the office.

**************************************************************************

JD dialed Chris’s cell number quickly, watching John for any sign that it was a trick.  “Come on, answer.”  The phone rang twice, then the line clicked open.

As he opened his mouth to answer Chris’s greeting, JD noticed John turn away from the door.  In a single fluid motion, John snatched the phone up in one hand and back fisted JD with the other one.

The blow spun JD around.  He managed to catch his balance on the wall behind him.  He pushed off the wall, whirling angrily toward John.  “You bastard,” he growled as he coiled, ready to leap at John and start the fight in earnest.

A quiet chuckle from the now open doorway stopped him short.  “Mr. Devin, I believe the boy is angry with you,” Alan Coe said.  “It’s a good thing we came along when we did.  You might have had your hands full.”

JD looked away from the taunting businessman, back to John.  The hard set of his jaw and cool scrutiny were thoroughly in place.  JD was suddenly very glad that he knew he could at least half trust John.  Otherwise, he would have sworn the man before him was a cold-blooded killer.  Come to that, he still was not certain that John was not.

John shifted a bit, moving his hand so JD could see the concealed phone.  The display was lit up... JD’s eyes widened a bit.  The line was still open.  *Please, Chris,* he thought desperately, *stay on the line.*

JD turned his attention back to Coe.  He chose his words carefully.  Raising his voice both in anger and the hope that it would transmit.  “Coe, I’m warning you.  If you bring Casey into this, I will kill you.”

Coe’s tone was flat.  “Don’t make threats you can’t carry out, boy.  As long as you cooperate, the young Miss....Casey, was it? will have nothing to fear.”

John clicked the phone shut; that would have to be enough of a message for Chris.  He relaxed a little as he slipped the phone out of sight.  One near disaster averted, for the time being.  JD said Coe’s name so they could have ATF agents swarming The Tonic any time now.  Of course this was not Coe’s only haunt, not even his most popular one, and they would not be staying there beyond today.  He hoped the ATF agent picked up on the importance of protecting Casey instead of trying to find JD.

“I’m not going to help you,” JD said vehemently.

Coe shrugged.  “Then perhaps Mr. Devin or Mr. Long here should show you what we do with people with too much bravado and not enough respect.”

Martin and John exchanged looks then John nodded his understanding to his boss and partner.  He smiled coldly at JD, sending an uncomfortable chill through him, as he stalked closer and roughly grabbed his collar.

“Show time,” he uttered harshly but winked at JD, leaving him confused.

It was short-lived as John wound up for the first punch and JD braced himself for the worst.  The blow came with surprising speed, but much more surprisingly barely clipped his chin, sending his head flying backwards.  The next came to his stomach and was likewise nearly painless but, combined with a shove from the hand still holding his collar, slammed JD into the wall.

The dazed look on JD’s face was not phony as he tired to keep from sliding down the wall; he was not sure what was going on but it was better than actually being beaten up.  John grabbed him before he could fall and knocked him into the wall again with a little more force pushing most of the air from his lungs.  He could see over John’s shoulder that Alan was holding up his hand signaling an end, but John did not seem particularly concerned with that as he held JD by his neck and wound up for another punch.

It never came as Martin grabbed John’s fist before it made contact with JD’s face.  John turned angry eyes on him and jerked his arm away.

“Ease up,” Long commanded calmly.  The relaxed smile he had been wearing during the one-sided fight was replaced by an authoritative look.

John growled then release his hold on JD’s throat before quickly kicking the agent’s feet out from under him.

“Now would you care to reconsider your answer?” Coe asked nonchalantly after his hired help had taken flanking positions to him.

John stared down at JD hard, willing him to make the sensible choice.

**************************************************************************

Vin moved over to his desk and pulled out the sheet of paper that had the snitches he had been compiling earlier in the day.  He scanned quickly down the list.  When he reached the bottom the name Jeff Wheeler popped into his mind.  This whole situation with JD smelled bad.  Another thought popped into his head,  *If he went bad...* this whole situation reaked of him.  He finished the thought, *I don't care if I work for the law, if anything happens to JD, I'm gonna kill him myself.*

Unknown to Jeff Wheeler and the team he had kept an eye out watching him.  Vin wanted to keep his tracker skills up to par so for him this was an exercise in tracking.

Jeff had disappeared over a year ago, and had not shown back up.  He had no idea where he could be, and he really did not care at this point in time.

The sound of a cell phone shrilled into life startling the team momentarily.  Everyone left in the office reached for their respective phones.  Vin, in seeing that it was not his, he placed his back in his jacket pocket and continued to study the names on the list.

Chris looked down at his particular phone.  The LDC screen was lit up, but did not indicate who was calling.  He answered cautiously, “Larabee...”

The distinct sound of flesh striking flesh rang hollow from the tiny speaker.  JD’s voice followed a second later.  He was swearing angrily at someone.

Chris felt his throat tighten.  Had not the picture been enough?  His voice was brittle as he addressed the person on the other end.  “Let me talk to him.”

His demand was not acknowledged.

“Damnit!  I want to talk to JD.  Now.”

“Mr. Devin, I believe the boy is angry with you.  It’s a good thing we came along when we did.  You might have had your hands full.”  Chris did not recognize the man’s voice.

It slowly dawned on Chris that the speaker wasn’t aware that he was broadcasting.  *JD must have gotten a hold of a cell phone.  Good boy.*

Chris looked up to find Vin watching him.  He gestured to the phone with his free hand.  Vin nodded and quickly silenced the rest of the office.  Chris continued to listen intently.

Buck caught the silent conversation.  Vin’s sudden attention to his phone and the intense look on Chris’s face, drew the conclusion for him.  He moved from his desk to stand in front of Chris.  His eyes silently demanded an explanation.

Chris held up his hand, stopping Buck’s questions before they were voiced.  Instead Chris concentrated on the phone.

He could hear JD’s voice.  The kid was challenging someone.  “Coe, I’m warning you.  If you bring Casey into this, I will kill you.”

*God, JD.  Don't piss them off.  We're coming for you.*

The call ended abruptly.  “Damnit!  No!”  He looked over to where Vin was writing frantically.  “Did you get anything?”

Tanner waved him off without turning his focus from his phone conversation.

Unable to wait any longer, Buck cut in, “Chris, what happened?  Who was that?”

“I’ll explain in a minute.  Right now get on the phone and have a black and white go pick up Casey Wells.”

“Casey---?  What’s she got to do with this?”

“NOT NOW, Buck.  Make the call.  Then we talk.”  Without waiting for further questions, Chris turned to Vin.  “Give me some good news, Vin.”

“The number itself is a clone.  But they did manage to track it to the east Capitol Hill District.”

“That fits with what Mel found, so they haven’t moved.”

Buck joined them a minute later,  “Units are on the way to her apartment and the college.  Now will you tell me what happened?”

“I think JD got a hold of a cell phone.  See if you can find anything on either a Devin, or a Coe.”

“Is he okay?”  Buck did not even try to hide the concern in his voice.

“He was doing well enough to make trouble.”

“Damn fool boy.  What’s he trying to do?  Get himself killed?”

“I don’t think so.  I think he was yelling for my benefit.”

“Coe!  Alan Coe!”

Chris and Buck both jumped at Vin’s sudden outburst.

Vin looked at them expectantly.  Seeing that neither one had made the connection he continued.  “Last year on the Mosbey case.  Ezra was certain Coe was involved in brokerin’ the deal.  Never found enough to make him worth a serious look.  I know Ez kept a file on him somewhere.”

“On who, Mr. Tanner,” Ezra called from the doorway.

“Alan Coe.  JD just ID’d him.”

Ezra knew he must have missed something important.  “JD?” he questioned wondering how their missing comrade could ID anyone for them.  “Did you find him?”

“Do you have a file on Coe?” Buck demanded ignoring the question.

“Certainly,” Ezra said turning to his desk.  He opened the file drawer and quickly scanned the names.  He reserved this drawer for things he felt would be useful again after a case was completed.  The team had far too many cases to keep all the information close at hand.  “Would anyone care to enlighten me on what is going on?”

Instead of answering Vin snatched the file from his hands and spread it out on the desk for Chris and Buck to look at as well.  “Do you have a list of his hideouts?  Places he stayed a lot?”

“Yes, I do,” Ezra replied pulling out the list from the mess of papers they had made on his desk.  “Patience...”

“What did we miss, guys?” Mel asked coming into the office area with a sketch artist in tow.

Josiah finally explained.  “JD made a call, sort of.  We know Coe has him, but we can’t figure out exactly where, just that it’s on the east side.”

“That makes sense,” Mel said thinking over what they had figured out so far.

“Got it!” Chris declared.  “Get on the phone, we need a warrant for The Tonic and a team to help us search, now!”

Ezra grabbed the phone on his desk made the call for a team while Vin used his cell phone to ask for a warrant for The Tonic.

While waiting for some answers, Buck noticed the extra person in the office and recognized him as one of the sketch artists.  “What’s he doing here?”

**************************************************************************

JD hit the ground hard and stayed there.  He curled up protectively, his breathing came in ragged gasps.  If Devin wanted to give them a show...

Slowly he pushed himself up, one arm wrapped protectively over his supposedly damaged abdomen.  Leaning heavily on the wall, JD pushed himself upright.  He used the long moments to weigh his options.

He could not be certain that Chris had stayed on the line long enough to hear his warning.  If Casey were still in danger...  He could do this.  He could play along until he got an opportunity to escape, or at least knew Casey was safe.  *If you believe, they believe.  If you believe, they believe.*  He repeated Ezra's advice for undercover work over and over to himself.

He looked up, slowly meeting Coe’s eyes.  He had every intention of agreeing with the man for the time being.

Coe did not bother to hide his scorn.  He obviously though he had JD cowed.  Fine.  That would make him careless.  JD could use his arrogance against him.  He could ignore the sting that accompanied being dismissed so easily.  *It’s just like being undercover,* he reassured himself.  *But it ain’t.*

He could almost hear the rumors that would fly behind concealing hands.  “...sold out.”  “...can't trust...”  “...how did he survive?”
 
He bitterly pushed the thoughts aside.  “Just leave Casey out of this,” he said in a defeated tone.

Or at least that’s what he meant to say.  What came out was more along the lines of “Yeah.  I’d like to change ‘no’ into ‘hell no’.”

*You were supposed to follow Ezra's example.  Not Buck's!* he chastised himself.

JD forced himself to match Coe’s stare.  He could not very well back down now.  Coe’s eyes were slightly squinted.  The muscles in his jaw stood out as he repeatedly clenched, then unclenched his jaw.  JD could see him reaching a conclusion about JD’s fate.

A light knock at the door delayed Coe’s impending wrath.  “What?” he snarled at the intruder.

A thin man with pinched features and thick glasses stuck his head into the room.  “So sorry, Mr. Coe, but there’s a matter that requires your attention, sir.”   He spoke directly to Coe, never once acknowledging the other three.

JD found himself wondering if it was an act, or if the man was truly oblivious.

Coe glared at JD for a moment, as if he had caused the interruption.  “You two stay here.  If he gives you any trouble, shoot him.”

As soon as the door shut, JD looked at Devin.  The angry glare the undercover operative sent lancing in JD’s direction seemed to give off a heat of it’s own.  JD had to fight the urge to grin at him.

Long finally broke the silence.  “Just how stupid are you, kid?”

Long’s tone irritated JD.  “Just trying to sink to your level.”

“You got a mouth on you, I’ll give you that.  Maybe somebody should teach you some manners.”  Long drew himself up.

“Don’t you need manners, before you can teach them?”  JD taunted.

With a growl, Long launched a round house toward JD’s jaw.  JD dropped all pretense of injury as he stepped aside.  He grabbed Long’s wrist in his right hand, jerking the man forward and off balance.  On the way past, JD drove his left fist into the larger man’s lower back.  Unable to stop his forward momentum, Long hit the far wall.  He pushed off the wall and came around for another attack.

Devin stepped between them.  He grabbed JD by the collar and shoved the young agent to the floor.  “Back off.  Both of you,” he ordered them.  He addressed JD, “I won’t think twice about shooting you.”

Long lashed out with his foot, kicking JD in the side.  JD twisted to avoid the full force of it, but even the glancing blow throbbed painfully.  Long leaned down and hissed into JD’s ear, “That was a mistake, a very big mistake.”

“Wouldn’t be my first, won’t be my last.”  Despite the ache in his side, JD allowed himself a moment of self-satisfaction.  He had seen the surprise in Long’s eyes when the punch went wide.  The man would be wary of him now, and that suited JD just fine.

Long’s retort was cut off by the opening door.  Coe reentered the small room, a teenage girl in tow.  “I thought you took her home.”   Long started to answer, but Coe cut him off.  “It’ll have to wait.  There’s a problem at the warehouse.  I have some stops to make, then I’ll meet you there.”

“What do we do with him?” Long asked gesturing to JD.

“Bring him along.  This time make sure he doesn’t get free.”  He looked back at Tophet.  “Take her with you.  Might as well show her the ropes tonight.”

“The warehouse?” John asked before he could stop himself.  “Why are we going to the warehouse now?”

Coe acknowledged the questions with a silent glare then left the closet.  John felt an extreme urge to hit something.  There was a very short list of reasons why they would go to the warehouse and it was too early for any of them, much too early.

“What about killing his girlfriend?” he helplessly muttered to the empty doorway.  Tophet smirked at him from her position by the door and John grimaced back then turned away from her.

JD looked up in surprise at the comment but did not have a chance to reply to it as Martin roughly pulled him to his feet.  He pushed JD face first against the wall then pulled out a pair of handcuffs and cuffed JD’s arms behind his back.

John watched angrily, wishing he was the one twisting the agent’s arms around.  He realize this turn of events was not JD’s fault but what he would not do for a few minutes alone with him right now...Instead he turned his anger on Tophet who was still smirking at him.

“What’re you doing here still?”

Tophet shrugged innocently before smiling harshly.  “I guess I’m learning the ropes.”

John sighed, she was much too young for this kind of thing, though he did not doubt she had seen worse.  She had not even shown a little remorse for the two deaths she was connected to earlier in the day, how was this different?

“He ready to go?” John gruffly asked indicating JD.

Martin nodded and started dragging him out the door.  John and Tophet fell into line behind them.  John could not help but glare at the struggling form in front of him.  It was bad enough he did not have the good sense to go along with the plan of a person who would not think twice about killing him, now he had to keep fighting like he had a chance of getting away.  He would be in for trouble if Martin was left alone with him for long.

When they got to the Mercedes parked out back, Long threw JD rather gracelessly into the back seat.  John went around to the passenger side and held the front door open for Tophet.

“Don’t want you to have any trouble with him,” he answered her questioning look.  She smirked in a way that John found unsettling then slammed the car door shut before he had a chance to close it for her.

John took his place in the backseat, pushing JD up from where he was sprawled half off the seat.

“Nice leather interior,” JD commented as Martin started the car.  He received a glare in the rear view mirror and an elbow from John.

“You’re in real trouble now,” was all he could whisper without being obvious.

JD did not look overly concerned with this revelation which annoyed John even more.  He had risked the operation for this?  If anything went wrong he was going to hold JD and his stupid ATF team responsible, for all the good that would do him.  John had never even been to Colorado before his first mission with Team Seven and now he could not seem to stay away from the place.  Denver was becoming the bane of his existence and he could not get within a hundred miles of it without running into one of them.  He shoved JD hard against the side door.

“What was that for?” JD asked hotly.

“Being stupid,” John replied grumpily then turned to watch the darkened city go by.  When he heard the distant wail of police sirens he could not help but wonder if they were looking for them.

They drove directly into the warehouse on the south side of town near the waterfront.  Activity roared in the half-lit interior as the four people got out of the car.

“Martin, stay with him, I want to talk to Bernie,” John said turning away from the trio.  Tophet cleared her throat and looked meaningfully at the two in charge of her for the time being.  John understood what that meant, she wanted to be included, learn the basics for the job.  “Uh, and why don’t you teach her how to stand watch?” he smirked.

Long smiled in reply and nodded.  “Now to stand watch...” John heard Martin begin as he went deeper into the warehouse.

It did not take long to find Bernie, he was always near the action.  “Bernie!” John called over the noise that rumbled through the building.  “Bernie!” he tried again.  “BERNARD!” Finally the barrel-chested man looked up from what he was doing and waved in acknowledgment.  John jogged the last few yards toward him.  A person did not just approach Bernie, not if he knew what was good for him.

“What can I do for you John?” he asked amiably.

“I was just wondering what was going on, why we’re here so soon.”

“Trouble with a buyer,” Bernie shrugged.  “He heard about Standmore.”

“Is he backing out?” John was glad the noise would cover any hope that might have come out in his voice.

“No, Coe convinced him to come and see for himself that everything is all right.  He’s flying in, should be here tomorrow,” Bernie was motioning to one of the workers who was moving something with a forklift.

“Tomorrow?!” John exclaimed.

Bernie was not looking at him so he missed the surprise on John’s face.  There was hardly any time to prepare.  “Yeah, so we need to be ready already.”

John was not sure if he should delve any deeper, but Bernie had always proven to be a nice guy, a bit fatherly even.  “What product is he coming for?”  If it was just the guns or explosives then John could relax, but if it was not...

Bernie turned back to him.  “You know what it is,” he simply said.

“We’re trying to rush preparation for that?!” John did not do a very good job of hiding his emotions.

“Hey, don’t worry, you know the boss knows what he’s doing.”  John did not look convinced so Bernie grabbed the back of his neck and looked directly into his eyes.  “It’ll be fine, we’ll be safe, all the precautions are being taken to keep it contained, for now.  I would not bet on the little guy you brought here tonight though,” Bernie ended with a laugh.  John joined in though his mind was racing at the possibilities.

**************************************************************************

The phone rang again.   *Come on, Chris.  Pick up the phone!*  After the fourth or fifth ring the line clicked open.

“Larabee,” he sounded quite angry.

“Chris?” Mary asked hesitatingly.

“Mary, I hope this is no social call,” he answered curtly.

“This is *not* a social call.  I just came back from the press conference at the pre-”

“I know about Standmore,” he cut her off.

“Wha-...how did you know?” Mary asked clearly stunned.

Chris decided to humor her for a minute, “I went to the morgue after lunch.  That’s when I found out.”  He hesitated a moment then continued, “Look Mary, I’ve got to go.”

Mary immediately sensed the underlying meaning of his phrase and tried not to let Chris hear her own fear for his safety, “All right, will I be able to talk to you later?”  she asked putting concern in her voice at the same time, wanting him to know but terrified if he knew of her concern for him.

“Should be,” he answered cryptically.

As Mary hung up the phone she quietly whispered, “Chris, please be careful.”

**************************************************************************

“What’s he doing here?” Buck asked Mel when she entered the office with someone trailing behind her.

She looked at Buck then back at the artist. “This is Mark Taylor, he’s going to draw our suspects that were at the library.  We found a witness that saw them.”

Buck looked at her for a second then nodded.  Just then, Nathan entered the office with a young man trailing behind him.

“That your witness, Mel?” Buck asked referring to the young man in the scruffy blue jeans that just came in with Nathan.

“Yes.  Adam Thomas.  He saw...” Nathan started.

Buck cut him off with a wave of his hand. “I heard.  We just got a possible location for JD.  Some how, JD got to a phone and IDed the guy that’s holding him.  We are getting ready to head out as soon as we get the warrant.  Ezra’s also working on our back-up that we need for the raid.”

Mel and Nathan looked at Buck.  This was great news.

“Anyway,” Buck continued. “You’ll have to have Mark and Adam go to another department because we are gonna need everyone’s help on this.”

Mark nodded at them all. “I’ll take him downstairs.  I have a good place for us to work.  Where do you want the drawings when they are done?” he asked.

“Just leave them with, Mrs. Nettie Wells.  She’ll know what to do with ‘em.” Buck said.

Mark nodded again and gestured Adam to follow him.

A ringing phone could be heard from Chris’s office, making all the agents look to the door.  Chris, who had been studying the contents of Ezra’s file on Coe, hurried to the office and picked up the phone after about 4 rings. A few minutes later he came out, looking grim.

“Who was on the phone, Chris?” Buck asked anxiously.

“Mary,” came the short reply. “Vin, how’s the warrant coming?” Chris asked when he looked at the sharpshooter.

“We’ll have it in a few more minutes,” he replied, turning his attention back to the phone.

“We have our back-up. They are now all waiting for your word on when to go,” Ezra said as he hung up the phone.  Chris nodded and waited for Vin to finish up on the phone as well.

**************************************************************************
 

“THIS IS THE ATF!  DON’T MOVE!  YOU’RE UNDER ARREST!” came the call when the ATF agents busted into the main room of The Tonic.

The team skidded to a stop when they realized the bar was empty.

Chris cursed under his breath while shaking his head.  “Spread out and search the place,” he ordered to the rest of his team.

Vin, with his Sig drawn nodded in Chris’s direction and started heading towards the back rooms.  He knew he was being followed, so he turned around only to find Mel, with her 9mm ready, hugging the other wall.  He nodded to her as he came up to the first doorway.  She moved around to the other side of the door as he gently reached for the knob.  He quickly opened the door up aiming his Sig inside at the same time, a storage facility.  They quickly searched the room, looking for anything unusual.  They came up empty handed and quietly headed out the room and down the hall again.

They continued in that fashion finding empty room after empty room till they came to the end of the hall.  There was one door left.  Using the same caution the two agents quickly opened the door.  They found a small storage room that was empty also.  Mel was about to leave when Vin whispered, “Stop.”

“Huh?” she answered with a confused look as she watched Vin enter the room.  He quickly walked to the back wall and knelt down examining the floor.

“What is it?” she asked quietly.

“These small dark drops sure look suspiciously like blood to me.”  He gently touched one then raised up his hand.  The end of his index finger was red.  A frown appeared on his face as he thought of what might have happened in this room.  As he looked up something caught his attention.  He looked under the shelf then used the barrel of his Sig to retrieve whatever it was he found.  Not wanting to lose anything he pulled out from his jacket pocket a small evidence bag and using that alone was able to put, what looked like trash to Mel, it in the small pouch.

There was a frown on his face, *Tape* Vin was thinking, *it might be nothing, but...* his thoughts trailed off as Mel approached him.

“You find something?” she asked him again.

He nodded then said, “It might be nothing.”

“But you’re going to show Chris anyway?” she answered his comment.

While she was considering his comments he quickly left the room and headed back towards the main room of the bar.  Realizing she was alone she berated herself for daydreaming and quickly followed the agent back to the others.

When she reached the main room she saw Vin already with Chris discussing something.  After a moment she saw him turn his palm up and show him his index finger.  Chris furrowed his brow as he studied the discoloration on Vin’s finger.  A moment later he handed him the evidence pouch with what turned out to be electrical tape and commented, “This was under one of the shelves.”

Buck came up and snatched the bag out of Vin’s hand before he could give it to Chris, “I *know* they tied up JD with this.”

“Buck,” Chris started, “We’re not sure about that.  It could be a fluke.”

**************************************************************************

Ezra stood outside The Tonic with members of the backup team.  Once they realized there was no one in the building it seemed pointless to send all twenty men in.  They searched outside but came up with nothing.  Ezra carefully kept his frustration in check as he dialed a familiar number on his cell phone.

He had hoped that the team would find JD and Coe and be able to make some real headway on the case, but he did not expect it to be that easy.  They still had their original plan of going in undercover which had fallen apart when Standmore turned up dead.  Now they had a new suspect in Alan Coe and he was going to do his best to get himself and Mel close to that man before anything more happened.

The voice of one of his many contacts finally picked up the phone.  “What do you want?”

“I need Alan Coe,” Ezra explained concisely.

“It’s the middle of the night!” the voice complained.

“You have until morning to find a way for me and a lady friend into Coe’s confidence.”

“What do you want with him?  He’s nothing...”

“Just do it.” The anger edging Ezra’s voice let the other man know how serious he was.

“I’ll see what I can do but I can’t guarantee anything.  He may be small time but he’s not easy to get close to.”

Ezra rubbed his hand over weary eyes and didn’t bother to correct the man’s assumption that Coe was unimportant in the grand scheme of things.  “At the very least I need to know where he is.”

“That I may be able to do.”

“Good, call as soon as you happen upon something that may be useful.”

Ezra hung up and started to go in to the Tonic then stopped and dialed another number.

“Do you have sketches of the suspects yet?” he demanded bluntly.  He was too tired to really be concerned with his vocabulary or manners.

“Uh, yeah,” Mark Taylor yawned through the phone.  “The guy just left.  He gave me a description of the two perps and he seemed to think the sketches were pretty good representations.”

“Do you recognize either of them?”

“No, not really,” he yawned again.  “I was planning on dropping them off with Mrs. Wells like Agent Wilmington told me.  Do you want me to take them to your office instead?”

“I hope we won’t be headed back there tonight, though others may have something to say about that.” Mark’s yawns were starting to get to Ezra and he had to stifle a yawn himself.  “Leave them with her and go get some sleep.”

“Sure thing Agent Standish.  I hope they’re some help.”

“They couldn’t possibly be a hindrance,” Ezra sighed.

They said their good byes and Ezra headed into The Tonic to see what the others had turned up.

Mel was leaning against the wall near the bar, keeping the front door in plain site.  She was tired and worried.  So far, they had found no sign of where JD was taken to.

Mel looked over at Buck.  She had heard how close him and JD are. She watched as Chris, Nathan, Vin, and Josiah tried to comfort him.  She was amazed at the close relationship these men held with each other.

Ezra walked into the bar just then and walked over to Chris.  After talking for a minute, he headed to her.

“Ms. Branz,” Ezra began, “we best be on our way home.  There is nothing more we can do here and it’s getting late.  I’ll see you at the office tomorrow.”

Mel nodded then looked at Buck.  He looked horrible. “Hey, Ezra?” she called as he started to walk away. “Is Buck going to be OK?” she asked with real concern in her voice.

“I believe he will be well taken care of,” he answered her, and continued his way out.

Mel nodded and headed out as well.  She paused by Buck and walked over to him.

“Buck?” she said hesitantly.  When he looked up at her she continued, “I’m sure JD will be fine.  We’ll find him.” Buck looked up at her with an expression on his face that just broke her heart.  It was then that she promised herself that they would find JD, no matter what it took.

After giving Buck a gentle squeeze on his shoulder she walked out and headed home.

Vin looked around the room after Mel left.  He came back up beside Chris who was now supporting Buck, “Chris, I’ll take him home.”

Chris nodded then gave Buck into Vin’s care.  Chris knew Buck would be okay at least for tonight.

Vin guided Buck to his jeep after they left The Tonic.  He knew they were not going to his apartment, he just did not have the room.  He quickly decided the best place to go was Buck and JD’s apartment.  He knew it would be a hard night for Buck without JD there.

They pulled out of the parking lot and headed towards the apartment.  On reaching it he turned off  the engine, Vin turned to face Buck, “Buck, we’re here,” he said softly.

Buck responded like an automan.  He got out of the jeep and went up to the door.  In the living room Buck collapsed on the couch while Vin went into the kitchen.  He rumaged around in the refrigerator for something.  He found a couple of beers and brought them back into the living room.  “Here,” he said softly as he handed the bottle to the agent.

Buck spoke softly, “I don’t know what I’m going to do if anything happens to that kid.”

Vin sighed and ran his hand through his long hair, “Buck, we’re just going to have to believe that he is fine, and that he’s waiting for us to show up.”

A couple of hours later Vin was still on the couch, he was only able to get Buck into his bed about 20 minutes ago.  He yawned then stretched out on the couch, he was not going into JD’s room to sleep.

**************************************************************************

The next day Mel dragged herself out of bed.  She thought back on her first day with the famous “Magnificent Seven” team as she made her morning coffee.

They were not the way she was led to believe.  From what the guys downstairs from the “seven” said, they were all cold and just rude to everyone.  That they did not care about anyone other then their team, and so on.

*Maybe I can have one of the guys help me get them back once this case is over,* she thought to herself.

She also hoped they got JD back OK.  She only knew the kid for only a few hours, but she liked him.  He was too nice to have that bad stuff to happen to him.

Her coffee, finally getting done she poured a cup and sat down at the table.  She was looking forward to work for the first time in a few years.

Chris Larabee.  Now there was a boss she would not mind working with for an extended time.  Although that was not because he was cute.  He also had an air about him that you instantly respected him.

Then there was Vin.  Him and Chris pretty much went hand in hand.  They were so different yet had this non speaking communication thing that was sometimes just eerie.

And of course, you could not forget Buck. She laughed out loud when she though of him.  He was the true Casanova of the group.  She suspected that she might be one of the few women in the building immune to his charms.  He was a definite character.  But she liked him.  He had such a big heart.  Especially when it came to JD.

*That kid could probably get anyone to like him,* she thought as she went to get ready for work. He had this innocent air about him that just screamed “protect me.”  She laughed again at that thought. ‘He probably doesn’t even know how much he screams that,’ she chuckled and continued to the shower.

As she was getting dressed she thought of Ezra.  Now there was a guy that knew how to make a lasting impression.  When she first saw him, he struck her as one of those rich kids that got daddy to let him join the ATF.  That changed when she got to talk to him.  He was definitely something else.

Then there was Nathan and Josiah.  Those two were the ones that kept everyone sane.  She laughed.  If that were possible with this group.

Finding that she had everything in her apartment ready for her to leave, she strapped on her gun, pocketed her badge, grabbed her keys and walked out the door.

Today was going to very stressful.  She knew that without a doubt.