Fighting Wars

Chapter 2

"California, first victim a little boy was abducted from his driveway and was found 48 hours later dead." Emilie says hitting a button on the remote so pictures come up on the screen. "New clothes, hair brushed, face up, arms crossed. That's an awful lot of remorse." Jennifer says resting her bandaged hand on the table. "Where were his parents at the abduction time?" Charlie asks Emilie looks at her file and says "Father was at work and the mother went inside to get her purse, she wasn't gone for even a minute." They nod and Aaron says "You said first victim, were there more?" Emilie nods and clicks another button so a picture of a boy in a soccer jersey. Jennifer smiles and says "He's so cute." Emilie nods, "This is Michael Tobin he was abducted on his way to a friends." Charlie looks at his file and says "Is there a connection between the two boys?" Emilie nods and says "It's not much but they went to the same school." Jennifer nods "So that means that the unsub would be local." Aaron nods and stands up "Alright let's get going then." They stand and gather their go bags to California.
    They land after a quiet peaceful plane ride in California. They get off of the plane and The chief greets them Emilie walks up to her and says "Hi I'm Agent Kingston we spoke on the phone, and these are SSA Gideon, Whiteman, Finley, Allred, and Porter." Jennifer smiles and the rest of the team shakes her hand "The victims live down the road if you would like to speak to them." she says Jennifer looks to Aaron he says "Agent Porter and I will go to the victims parents house. The rest of you will go to the station." They nod and Aaron turns to the chief "What's the address?" Chief nods and pulls out her book "I'll show you two to the house and I'll give them the address to the station." Aaron nods and the chief hands the slip of paper to Emilie "There's the station address. Ask for Detective Johnson he'll show you where to set up." They nod and walk towards the SUV paper I'm hand. "So Agent Porter right?" The chief says opening the car door. "Yes?" She answers getting in the car "You find these guys based on solely behavior." She says putting the keys in the ignition, "No, no, no I don't go solely off of behavior but it is one of the big key factors." She nods and Aaron turns to the chief "Are you alright Ma'am?" She nods and Jennifer suddenly feels awkward sitting in the back seat. "Yes it's just that the Tobin's are are a family friend of mine." Jennifer looks at Aaron and he says "Should you be working this case then? Emotional attachments can get messy in these high risk situations." She nods and continues to drive to the house. Jennifer looks to Aaron concerned and he nods. "Ms..." Jennifer stops, she realized that she never asked for her name. Aaron realizes and turns to Jennifer and mouths 'Weaver.' Jennifer nods and starts again. "Ms. Weaver may I ask what your relationship is with the victim's family?" She glances up to her mirror to look at Jennifer "I'm Michaels godmother." She continues to drive and Jennifer looks to Aaron and he nods "Ma'am I highly suggest that you stay at the house with the Tobin's while we work this case." We pull up to the house and Chief says "Alright, but promise me that you will find that boy." Jennifer nods and says "I promise." They get out of the car and walk up to the house and Aaron knocks on the door. Mrs. Tobin opens the door and Aaron says "I'm Agent Gideon and this is Agent Porter we are with the FBI. Can we come in?" She nods and Jennifer walks in and notices the perfectness of the house. Other than the occasional drawing and crayons the house is clean. The father comes in with a crying infant and the mother picks up the child but she still keeps crying. "May I?" Jennifer asks the mother nods and hands the baby to Jennifer and she holds her swaying from left to right. "What's her name?" Jennifer asks Aaron smiles and Mrs. Tobin says "Charlotte." Jennifer smiles and says "Hello Charlotte. Charlotte was my sisters name." she whispers rocking Charlotte back and forth. Aaron looks at a smiling Jennifer and then back to the family. "Okay so, could you tell us what happened when you went back outside?" They sit down but Jennifer still stands gently rocking Charlotte. "Michael and I were going to the car to go to the grocery store but I forgot my purse. So I ran inside to grab it off of the kitchen counter. When I came back into the garage Michael was gone." Jennifer nods and turns to the dad "Where were you when this happened?" He straightens his back and says "Are you suggesting that I kidnapped my own child?" Jennifer shakes her head and says "I'm not suggesting anything, it's essential to the profile." He stands up and squares up to Jennifer "So just a profile is going to help me find my son?" Jennifer shakes her head and says "No sir not just a profile, the profile just helps narrow down the suspects of who could have taken Michael." He rolls his eyes and says "Get out of my house." Mrs. Tobin stands up and Jennifer hands Charlotte back to Mrs. Tobin and pulls out her card and hands it to her as well. "Call me please." Jennifer whispers she nods and Aaron leads Jennifer out the door.
    "Well that was different." Aaron says Jennifer nods and stops Aaron. "Did you realize how Mr. Tobin couldn't even call Michael by his own name." Aaron looks back at the house and then back to Jennifer "Do you think that he kidnapped his son?" I nod and say "Think about it, the bags under his eyes suggests that he has many sleepless nights, the way he couldn't get Charlotte to stop crying without getting frustrated, he's a pedophile and put his kid up on an online auction." He nods and pulls out his phone to call Kyrsten "I need you to hack into Mr. Tobins computer see if he has acceded any pedophilia chat rooms." Jennifer hears little Charlotte cry and she looks to Aaron. He nods and she runs back to the door. "FBI Open Up!" Jennifer yells no response so she kicks open the door. Charlotte lays there on the couch and Jennifer hears a scream from upstairs. "I'll be right back little Charlotte." She says she runs upstairs with her gun out she kicks open doors and nothing until she reaches the bedroom. Her heart pounds as she kicks open the door. Her eyes fall onto Mrs. Tobin tied to the bed. She shakes her head as Jennifer takes a step in. A hard object smacks the back of her head, Jennifer falls and her gun goes flying across the room. Mr. Tobin takes a piece of cloth and straddles Jennifer to tie it around her mouth. She shakes to try to get out but with no success. Jennifer kicks her leg with the gun as high as she can so she hits Mr. Tobin right in the crotch. He cries out flying forward, Jennifer not bothering to untie the cloth grabs her gun from her ankle and aims it at Mr. Tobin "Stay Down!" She commands moving the cloth away from her mouth. She forces him into handcuffs and then rushes to Mrs. Tobin "Mrs. Tobin, Charlotte is on the couch, if not my partner is outside." She nods and Jennifer unties her "Thank you, and please call me Avery." She nods and Avery runs down the stairs "Get Up!" Jennifer commands pulling him off of the floor. She pushes him down the stairs. Aaron stands there impressed. "It's only your second case and you know how to take down these people?" Aaron asks Jennifer nods and says "Yeah, my childhood was far from perfect and besides I got made fun of at the academy until I took down their top fighting student." He nods and takes Mr. Tobin out to the SUV "Do you have any solid evidence to lock him up?" Avery asks Jennifer shakes her head and says "Not yet but we can keep him locked up for 48 hours for questioning, hopefully we can find Michael in that time." She tears up and Jennifer turns to her "Hey it's okay, he can't hurt you anymore." She smiles and wipes her eyes. Jennifer feels wetness drip down her neck so she puts her hand to it. She removes her hand and it's covered in blood. "What did he hit me with?" Jennifer asks, Avery says "A wood block, I have a first aid kit in my bathroom let me go get it." Jennifer smiles and Avery hands Charlotte to Jennifer and walks to the bathroom. "Hey Charlotte, your mommy loves you very much you know that right?" Jennifer whispers swaying back and forth "How are you so good? Do you have kids?" Avery asks setting the first aid kit on the kitchen counter. Jennifer shakes her head, Avery sighs and says "Well I think that that Agent Gideon has a fancy for you." Jennifer smiles and her cheeks grow hot "A fancy, eh?" She says Avery smiles and pats the chair, Jennifer sits down and chats with Avery while Avery's calm hands fix up Jennifer.
    "Thank you." Jennifer says standing up and handing Charlotte to Avery. "You said Charlotte was your sisters name?" She says rocking a sleepy Charlotte. Jennifer nods and says "Yeah, she was great. Charlotte means free. She's going to be rebellious at times but will love you forever." Avery smiles and Jennifer steps into the front door frame "Stay safe. We'll find your son." Avery smiles and Jennifer walks outside. Jennifer walks into the police station and says "I know this sounds crazy but I'm kind of missing the snow back in Virginia." Emilie says sipping her coffee. Jennifer smiles and says "Don't worry it's not just you." Emilie looks at Jennifer and runs up to her and pulls her in a hug. "Oh my god! Where were you, scratch that I knew where you were. What happened, oh wait I know that to-" Jennifer wiggles out of Emilies grasp and says "If you're looking for 'Are you okay?' The answer is yes I am fine." Aaron walks up to them and says "Charlies been trying to break him, no success..." Jennifer nods and says "We want to do this good cop bad cop?" he nods and suggest "You're good cop I'm bad cop?" Jennifer shakes her head and says "Me in the interrogation room is completely different than me out here, may I be bad cop?" He nods and Jennifer and Aaron walk towards the room.
    Aaron starts trying to warm up to him. Jennifer sees that it worked and walks in holding the file of what happened to the other boy. "I'm done playing the nice card tell me where your son is!" She exclaims he leans back relaxed and Jennifer keeps her stoic gaze fixed on him. "You really want me to believe that a father could just stay here and be uncooperative. We're Finding Your Son!" He chuckles and Aaron says "Agent Porter calm down." Jennifer ignores him and slams her hands on the table "Do you want to see what happened to the other boy?" She says pulling out the pictures "Agent Porter he really doesn't need to see that." Aaron says grabbing her arm, she pulls it away and slams the pictures on the table. "That's going to happen to your son!" She exclaims, Mr. Tobin shrugs and Jennifer meets his eyes. "You son of a-" Jennifer turns away and then back to him "Who Did You Sell Him To?" Mr. Tobin looks taken aback and then realization strikes Jennifer, the pictures on the mantel in the house Mr. Tobin sold Michael to his uncle. "You're Sick!" She spits, she gathers the pictures and Aaron shoots her a glance that to the untrained eye it looks like a glare, but to Jennifer it's anything but that... it's to take the team and go. She nods and walks out of the room.
"Come on I know where he is!" Jennifer calls grabbing her vest and sliding it on. They follow her example and they run out the door to the SUV. Jennifer hops in the driver's seat and thinks back to the conversation she had with Avery.  Michael's uncle lives on the edge of town on a farm land. Jennifer turns on her lights and sirens and tells Derek to call Kyrsten "Kyrsten give me everything on Michael's uncle." She says into the phone. "Uh he lives on the edge of town, and has moved a lot now... He's been accused of pedophilia yet has never been brought in for it." Jennifer nods and Derek says "There!" He points to a house in the field. He puts his phone to his ear and says "Thanks baby girl." Jennifer hears Kyrstens giggle as she parks the car. The team files out and Emilie points to around back. "There!" She calls, Derek goes around one side, Charlie and Emilie go around the other and Jennifer walks inside. Thank goodness for earpieces, Jennifer can hear everything that's going on outside. She runs through the rooms and hallways hearing everything they're telling the uncle. "Put Micheal down." Derek says Jennifer checks the last room and there Michael is. "Come here." Jennifer says, he runs up to her and Jennifer catches him and lifts him up. "I have Michael It's just a blanket!" Jennifer says into the earpiece.
Jennifer walks out of the house holding Michael. The team puts the uncle into the station car and Jennifer meets the gaze of Avery Tobin. Jennifer sets Michael down and points to his mom. "Look your mom is right there." He smiles and runs to his mother, she picks him up and with tears falling down her face she mouths 'Thank you to Jennifer. Aaron walks up to her and says "You did good Porter." Jennifer laughs and says "You to, Gideon." Aaron rolls his eyes and says "Let's not do that again." Jennifer nods "Never again." He smiles and the two walk back to the team who are talking away.
    This is part of what a family is about, not just love. It's knowing that your family will be there watching out for you. Nothing else will give you that. Not money, not fame, and not work - Mitch Albom