Thriving

Hail Mary

Finding the men who broke into Jessica's apartment and kidnapped Amber was proving to be a lot harder than everyone thought. Well, everyone except Jessica that is. This vigilante stuff was completely new to her and she had no reference as to how quickly she should expect results.

Felicity, on the other hand, was about five seconds from losing her mind. Every trick she tried and every lead she followed brought only dead ends and weakened hopes. These two men, whoever they were, knew what they were doing. But everyone makes mistakes and Felicity was determined to find theirs.

The only good thing to come out of that night was time. While Felicity hacked her way through every lead, Oliver, Diggle, and Jessica crafted a game plan and cover story. They knew that the bulk of their search would have to be conducted at night, for obvious reasons, but everyone refused to just stop all of their work once the sun came out.

They decided to split the day into shifts. This way, one person could be down in the bunker watching the computers for any results from any one of the dozen algorithms Felicity created to run her searches automatically while the others recharged.

The plan worked great for the most part. No one really got any rest on their break, but Oliver and Jessica were available for police questioning which helped to keep any suspicions at bay.

Sunset brought a little relief to Oliver and Jessica. They could escape the looks of pity and comfort hugs and encouragement speeches from friends and family. Finally, they could get back to work.

"Find anything?" Jessica asked as she jogged down the metal stairs into the bunker with Oliver on her heels.

"Nothing good." Felicity groaned just as one of the monitors started beeping.

Oliver quickened his pace, his eyes darting between the computer monitors with hope. "What's that?"

"It's the facial recognition results." Felicity clicked on the screen. "I backtracked a bit to see if I could find who stole the license plate that was on the SUV and I got a little bit of the guy's face but it was a horrible shot."

Jessica frowned. "Then why even run it through facial recognition."

Felicity shrugged. "I was going for a hail mary." She clicked on the screen again, her eyes widening at the positive results. "It worked."

"What?" Oliver and Jessica said in unison.

"I found him." Felicity's fingers flew across her keyboard as she brought up every scrap of information on the man her algorithm identified as Jarod Freeman onto the monitor. "Meet Jared Freeman. A despicable criminal for hire with a reputation for doing literally anything for the right price."

Jessica leaned forward, her eyes scanning over the computer monitors. "Even kidnapping?"

"Oh, yeah." Felicity nodded. "This is your dirtbag."

"Do you know where he is?" Oliver questioned.

"Give me five minutes." Felicity turned back to her computers.

While Felicity tracked down Jared's address, Oliver turned to his chest from Lian Yu. He grabbed his suit and walked off to go change.

"Got him!" Felicity announced just as Oliver came back in his vigilante suit.

"Where?"

"362 Ashwood Street," Felicity said.

Jessica narrowed her eyes at the screen. "Is that a motel?"

Felicity enlarged the online photos of the building. "It is. And it's still in business."

"Why would someone kidnap Amber and bring her to a public place like that?" Jessica wondered aloud.

Oliver lifted his bow from the box, his eyes sweeping across it. In all the five years he spent living in a real-life hell, he had never experienced anything like this; the pain and worry of knowing your child is in trouble but being unable to help or even find them.

"I'll find out."

* * *

The motel Jared had holed himself up in was dingy, rund-down, and buried deep in the Glades. Either he wasn't as rich as someone would think or he was keeping a low profile. Either way, Oliver wasn't letting him leave alive.

He busted down Jared's motel room door, nocking an arrow as soon as the door thudded on the ground.

"Where's Amber Queen?" Oliver shouted in a deep voice.

Jared stood motionless, staring at the broken-down door. "You better pay me for that. That money isn't coming out of my pocket."

Oliver stepped forward menacingly. "Amber Queen. Where is she?"

"Who?" Jared furrowed his eyebrows.

"The ten-year-old girl you were hired to kidnap. Where. Is She?"

"Oh, you mean the Karma girl. I have no idea." Jared stood up, standing straight across from Oliver. He pulled a gun from the waistband of his jeans. "So you can go now."

Oliver shot the gun out of his hands, nocking another arrow. He walked closer to Jared. Now, he stood only a foot away from him. "Where's the girl?"

"I told you, I don't know." Jared insisted.

"You kidnapped her. Took her from an elevator of an apartment building in the Glades."

"Yeah, then I handed her off to some dude in a suit." Jared sassed. "I don't know where she is now."

"Who hired you?" Oliver questioned.

"I don't know." Jared shrugged.

Oliver adjusted his aim, shooting an arrow into Jared's arm. The man howled in pain, clutching his arm.

"What the hell man?"

"Who hired you?" Oliver already had another bow nocked on his bow.

"I don't know. I swear." Jared said. "Some dude called me, asked me to kidnap someone, and sent a picture. I never got any names."

Oliver sighed. After so many hours of waiting, he was back to having no leads. "I believe you." He whispered.

Then he let one last arrow fly. This time it pierced Jared's heart and killed him instantly.

* * *

When Oliver returned to the bunker, he was broodier and grumpier than normal.

"What happened?" Felicity asked, silently hoping-- begging-- that this last lead wasn't another dead end.

Oliver placed his bow backing in his crate before speaking. "He was the kidnapper but he didn't know anything. Not even Amber's name." He informed the room. "He called her 'the karma girl'."

Jessica's blood ran cold at Oliver's words. "He said Karma? That's the exact name?"

"Yes." Oliver nodded. "Why?"

"Karma was Beth's hacker alias," Jessica said. "The same one Amber used to find Vertigo."

"Hold on," Felicity interjected, flabbergasted. "Beth was Karma?"

"Who's Karma?" Diggle came down the stairs, joining the group a little late due to a prior commitment he had made to Carly.

"One of the most notorious ethical hackers to exist," Felicity answered before anyone else could. 

"It's also the alias Beth used as a hacker," Jessica added. "Which Amber has been borrowing."

"Does this mean we're closer to finding her?" Diggle questioned.

"Yes and no," Felicity said. "Knowing that Amber was kidnapped because of Karma narrows down a lot of possibilities and search parameters but I still have to start from scratch."

Oliver sighed heavily. This was not how he wanted the night to go. "Just work as fast as you can." He requested, voice low and defeated.

A/N: Only a few chapters left until I'm back to the episodes.