Authors Note: Huge thank you to SallyJetson for the beta and thanks to everyone who has reviewed.

Chapter 13 – Playing the Game

Toyota Dealership, Manhattan

‘So what did she say?’

Martin was staring intently at Danny as he waited for him to tell them about the phone call. Jack’s stomach twisted as he waited for Danny to reply.

But Danny didn’t answer Martin; instead he turned to face Jack, a half wary, half angry expression on his face. After the way he had behaved towards him earlier, Jack couldn’t blame Danny for looking at him the way he was.

‘She managed to give me a message; said I should speak to you about the Henderson file.’

Despite his obvious reluctance to speak to him, Jack heard the hopeful note creep into Danny‘s voice. More than that; both he and Martin had a faint glimmer of hope in their eyes as they waited to hear the meaning in Sam’s message.

Jack frowned, dropping his eyes to the ground for a moment, desperately dredging his memory for what Sam could possibly have meant.

Nothing.

He couldn’t even remember a case of Henderson. He took a deep breath before raising his eyes again, knowing he was about to extinguish the hope blossoming within Danny and Martin.

‘Jack?’

Martin sounded wary;

‘I’m sorry, but I honestly don’t know what she’s referring to.’

He hadn’t wanted to look, but couldn’t help himself, and the despair he saw in Danny’s eyes told him more eloquently than words ever could how much he loved Sam. Impulse made him reach out and rest his hand briefly on the younger man’s shoulder;

‘We’ll find her Danny. She said what she said for a reason; we’ll figure it out; we’ll bring her home, I promise.’

For a long moment they stared at each other and Jack watched the distrust gradually fading from Danny’s eyes, replaced with some darker emotion Jack couldn’t put a name too. Then he nodded briefly before turning without a word and heading back to the car. Jack and Martin stood in silence, watching him as he lent against the car, his head turned away from them. Jack guessed he need a few moments to himself.

‘He’s pretty close to the edge you know.’

Martin’s words cut through Jack’s thoughts; he continued to watch the back of Danny’s head as he replied.

‘We’re all pretty close to the edge on this one. Can you manage him do you think, or do you need me to keep him in the office?’

Martin snorted;

‘Jack, nothing, not you, not me, not even my father, is going to keep him in the office if he thinks he should be somewhere else. But I’ll make sure I stay with him, and if he’s going to do anything stupid I’ll do my best to stop him. More than that I can’t promise you’

Jack nodded, and cursed Victor Fitzgerald for the 100th time in the last few minutes for forcing him off the case.

‘Your father is a class A jerk; you know that, right?’

Martin nodded grimly. ‘Worse than that; he’s a class A jerk with power. Be careful Jack; he and Paul Ford are close and he’ll give you hell for not making me work the kidnapping.’

Jack shrugged and they started towards the car and Danny.

‘It’s not the first time I’ve pissed your father off and it won’t be the last.’

Martin shook his head. ‘Just be careful. Paul Ford is Dad’s godson, its old money, old school ties, and that matters as much as family in their world, more so sometimes.’

He opened the car, meeting Jack’s eyes again, his deadly serious

‘I know Paul Ford. He might have an image as a wholesome family man but in reality he’s a nasty piece of work and as ruthless as they come. Don’t take anything he says at face value; I’ve never heard him tell the truth in all the years I’ve known him.’

Jack climbed into the car as he mulled over Martin’s words. The whole thing was leaving a nasty taste in his mouth.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

FBI Offices, Manhattan

‘Ms Barnes, I need you to tell me in your own words exactly what happened this morning.’

Viv watched the woman sitting across the table from her carefully. She had obtained some information about her and knew that she was 39 and a well qualified Nanny. She was British, but had a green card and had been working in the US for 5 years now. She had begun working for Congressman Ford just over a year ago; previously to that she had been working for another Congressman.

She waited for an answer but Ruth Barnes didn’t speak; instead she looked back and forth between Viv and Elena.

‘Ms Barnes,’ Elena spoke with just a hint of exasperation in her voice, ‘we have a six year old child who has been kidnapped and may be in danger. You need to tell us what you know.’

A flicker of some emotion crossed Ruth Barnes face at the word ‘danger’, and Viv lent forward, suddenly convinced there was something she knew but wasn’t telling them.

‘Ruth, you need to tell us what you know. If you don’t you are impeding a federal investigation and that’s serious jail time.’

Ruth Barnes looked unimpressed at the threat levelled against her; instead she took a sip of her water before she spoke in a calm voice;

‘I was getting Charlotte ready for school. We were in her bedroom, about to get her dressed, when two masked figures entered the room. One of them pointed a gun at me, the other went to Charlotte and picked her up and carried her out of the room. The figure holding the gun had a cloth in their other hand. They gestured for me to sit on the bed. I sat on the bed. They approached and placed the cloth over my face and that was the last thing I knew before I woke up over an hour later. As soon as I could move I dialled 911.’

Viv glanced at Elena who looked as taken aback as she was feeling. The calmness of the English woman was disconcerting.

‘You don’t look overly concerned Ms Barnes’

Elena was staring at Ruth Barnes intently as she threw this accusation at her. A brief flicker of irritation crossed the Nanny’s face and this time she spoke with out requiring a further prompt.

‘Agent Delgado, I’ve looked after Charlotte for over a year now. I’ve nursed her through chicken pox; I’ve taught her to swim and to ride a bike. I’m the last person to kiss her goodnight before she goes to sleep and the first person to kiss her good morning when she wakes up. Your implication that I am not showing enough concern about Charlotte is as insulting as it is wrong. Just because I don’t show every emotion, just because I’m not falling apart, does not mean that I don’t love her deeply and want her to be safe and well.’

Viv and Elena’s eyes met mirroring each other’s thoughts. Calm the speech may have been, but for the first time Viv could see the emotion bubbling away underneath the calm surface.

‘So where has Charlotte’s mother been through all of this if you have been such a major factor in her life?’ Elena sounded sceptical.

Ruth Barnes’s face froze back into the calm mask she had been wearing before her last speech.

‘You’ll have to ask Congressman Ford about that.’

Viv stared at her in disbelief.

‘Ms Barnes, you need to start co-operating with us. So far you haven’t been particularly helpful. Now please answer the question that Agent Delgado asked you.’

Ruth Barnes met Viv’s angry stare with calm, pale green eyes; ‘I signed a confidentiality agreement when I started to work for Congressman Ford. One of the subjects I am forbidden to discuss with anyone is Mrs Ford.’

Elena and Viv exchanged looks of total disbelief. Elena’s jaw tightened.

‘Well, perhaps you can tell us when you last saw her then?’

Ruth Barnes looked thoughtful and then shrugged; ‘No, I can’t. I’m very sorry. Congressman Ford instructed me that if any of the subjects covered by the agreement came up with any government agency or the police I should tell you to contact Jonathan Keppler, Congressman Ford’s lawyer, and that he would be able to assist me in what I can and cannot answer.’

Elena raised an eyebrow at Viv who nodded. She then rose and left the room. Viv sat back in her seat looking at the woman in front of her;

‘Well if you can’t answer questions about Mrs Ford perhaps you can answer some questions about what happened earlier?’ For the life of her she couldn’t keep the sarcasm and the frustration from her voice.

Ruth Barnes met her gaze calmly and nodded her head briefly. Viv gritted her teeth.

‘OK, well, when the masked figure picked Charlotte up and carried her out of the room, did she cry out?’

Ruth Barnes shook her head,

‘I’m sorry Agent Johnson. Everything happened very quickly, but I don’t remember Charlotte crying out.’

Viv frowned; ‘That seems strange to me. She’s six years old and a masked figure appeared in her bedroom, picked her up and carried her out. If that had been my son he would have yelled the place down, but you say Charlotte didn’t say a word or cry out.’

‘I said I don’t remember her crying out. It doesn’t mean she didn’t. I was unconscious less than a minute after they entered. Charlotte is a timid child; it’s possible that the shock stopped her crying out immediately. For all I know they used chloroform on her too.’

Viv sat back, staring at Ruth Barnes. What she said made perfect sense but Viv still couldn’t shake the feeling that she knew more than she was saying, and she was too calm.

‘Did you recognise the abductors?’

‘They wore ski masks and sun glasses, so no, I didn’t recognise them.’

‘Well what can you tell me about them? Were they heavy set or slim built? Were they tall or short? Black, white or Hispanic? Come on Ms Barnes, you must remember something that can help us.’

Ruth Barnes looked thoughtful and then shook her head again; ‘I would say they were medium build, medium height and with their ski masks and glasses I couldn’t see any skin to tell you what colour it was.’

Again, her calmness was sending warning bells through Viv. Before she could ask any more questions Elena entered the room again, closely followed by a middle aged, well groomed man.

‘This is Jonathan Keppler. He’s here to see Ms Barnes.’

Elena didn’t sound happy about it. Viv stood up.

‘Well Ms Barnes I’ll leave you with Mr Keppler; maybe he can persuade you to be a little more co-operative.’

She noted with interest that for the first time Ruth Barnes looked nervous.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The car stopped. Moments later the back was opened and the cover was pulled off her and a hand gripped her arm.

‘Get out’

It was the older woman’s voice.

Sam struggled out of the car; her limbs were cramped from lying awkwardly for so long and any movement was accompanied by pain shooting through her joints. A door slammed and then she could hear the child speaking.

‘Mommy, why has that lady got something over her eyes?’

‘It’s all part of the game darling. Do you remember what I told you?’

Sam knew that the younger woman was the child’s mother but she still couldn’t understand who the older woman was; she certainly didn’t sound old enough to be the child’s grandmother. In fact Sam was certain the two women weren’t related; the younger woman had an upper class East Coast accent which suggested that she came from money; certainly that she had been educated privately. The older woman spoke with a Brooklyn accent.

‘Is the lady playing the game too, Mommy?’

‘Yes darling she is. Come on, let’s go inside and get some food for you. You must be hungry.’

She listened to their footsteps briefly crunch across some gravel and then head up some steps, followed by a door opening and then closing. Sam waited, wondering what was going to happen next.

‘Are you hungry?’

She bit back the sarcastic answer that sprang to her lips and contented herself with nodding her head. The woman took hold of her arm.

‘This way. Be careful, the ground’s very uneven.’

She led Sam along a path before halting;

‘There are three steps up to the door. Wait here whilst I open it.’

Sam heard her walk up some steps, open a door and then return to her again, taking her arm and guiding her into a building. The sound of her footsteps on the creaking floorboards echoed, and the air smelt musty. Sam shivered; it was cold in the house and she couldn’t throw off the feeling that something sad had happened here. She shook her head slightly, trying to dislodge the morbid thoughts suddenly threatening to overwhelm her.

They walked a short way before the woman stopped and Sam heard her open a door and then she was guided through.

‘I’m going to untie your hands. Don’t try anything; I have a gun with me and you do anything stupid and I’ll use it. You understand?’

‘Yes’

Sam tensed as her hands were untied and then gasped at the sudden pain as the blood began to circulate freely. She winced again at the pain that shot through her shoulders as she moved her hands from behind her back to in front of her, and began massaging her wrists.

The woman was behind her; the sound of her footsteps told Sam that she was retreating back out of the room.

‘When I close the door you can take your blindfold off. Feel free to try and escape if you want to. We’re 30 miles from the nearest phone and gas station and 60 miles from the nearest town. The nearest road that has any sort of regular traffic is 20 miles away.’

She paused but Sam didn’t say anything. She didn’t doubt the truth of what she was hearing; she hadn’t heard another vehicle in over an hour and for more than an hour before that she had only heard other vehicles intermittently. She waited for the door to close so she could take the blindfold off but the woman didn’t move.

Sam turned her head toward the woman.

‘Why are you doing whatever it is you are doing?’

The woman was silent for a moment and Sam thought she wasn’t going to answer. When she spoke she sounded tired.

‘Do you have any children?’

Sam shook her head; ‘No I don’t.’

‘Then I doubt I can explain it to you. I’ll get you some food. Make yourself comfortable.’

The door closed and Sam was alone in the room. She slowly raised her aching arms and removed the scarf tied around her eyes.

She looked around, blinking slightly as her eyes adjusted to the light. She was in a large room; a queen sized bed was in the corner and a table and chair was under the window. She turned her head and saw a fireplace with a large comfortable looking armchair in front of it. The blinds were down but enough light was apparent for her to guess it was late afternoon. A door was next to the bed. She walked over and tried it; it opened to show a bathroom.

She walked to the window and opened the blinds. The metal bars on the window looked strong; past them, all she could see was grass and trees.

She stared around the room as she formulated and discarded several escape plans. Despite the woman having a gun she didn’t feel as if she was about to use it on her…..and there was the child. Her best guess was that they had taken the child for some reason……….

She shivered again; the sadness of the house was oppressive. She couldn’t hear any other sounds anywhere within it and wondered where the younger woman and the child where. She paced as she tried to decide on her next move, her eyes sweeping about the room until they alighted on the rug on the wooden floor. It was slightly out of alignment and Sam could see a stain on the floor beneath it. Squatting down she lifted the corner of the rug.

Blood.

It was an old stain but she had seen enough blood to know what she was looking at. She pulled the rug back completely.

There was a lot of blood.

Someone had died violently in this room.