The Eustice Murders (Complete)

*Chapter 35 *

Sam's jaw dropped as he looked at the image Hank had just handed him. Both men stood in silence for a few moments as the gravity of the situation dawned upon them. "Shit," Sam finally exclaimed. "You, erm, better come in mate. Take a seat and I'll get on the phone to Beesley. We, er, we need to act fast on this," he told Hank who collapsed onto the sofa. Sam disappeared into the other room with the telephone while Hank sat upright with his head in his hands, desperately trying to regain his composure.

"I can't believe it," Hank mumbled to himself.

"Ok, I've spoken to the captain and he's on his way. He's also going to get hold of agent Masters and get him involved as well. On top of that, I've contacted Sarah Brookes; she knows this case well enough, and to be honest we need all the help we can get right now," Sam told him after returning a few minutes later. "I've put the kettle on while we wait for the others to turn up. It's not quite what you're used to but there's a coffee on its way," he added as he sat down on the sofa next to his partner. "Don't worry buddy, we'll get her back," he tried to assure him, placing one hand on his shoulder. "I know you've been with me when we've told others that, but this is different; this one really is personal." Hank nodded his response he tried to raise a smile but that was beyond him right now. He knew Sam was serious; he had absolutely no doubts that he meant every single word of that, but unfortunately, he also knew what the odds were.

Sarah Brookes was the first to arrive about twenty minutes later. "Hi guys, I'm really sorry. I tried to contact Dustin but for some reason, I can't seem to get hold of him at the moment," she told them as Sam opened the door.

"No worries, thanks for coming so quickly, we really appreciate your help," Sam told her.

"Um, Hank is that your door left open?" she asked, looking slightly concerned. Sam closed his eyes and groaned gently. "I would have closed it but I wasn't sure it was the right one. And besides, I didn't want to lock him out if it was his," she continued sorrowfully.

"It's OK, I've got it. I know where he keeps his keys," Sam told her. Sarah sat down next to Hank while Sam headed down the corridor. He picked up Hank's keys and had a good look around the apartment for any kind of clue. Considering Hank's mental condition right now, it would have been easy for him to have overlooked something. Once he was satisfied that everything was how and where it should have been, he went back to lock the door. Meanwhile, Captain Beesley and agent Masters were just arriving and making their way toward the apartment.

"Detective Johnson, how are you?" Captain Beesley asked quietly.

"I'm ok thanks; shocked of course but I'm ok. About as well as can be expected," Sam told him.

"Good. Glad to hear it," the captain smiled. Agent Masters stood beside him nodding but never spoke. "And what about Hank?" Beesley asked gingerly, bracing himself for an answer he wasn't going to like.

"Ugh, not good," Sam told them shaking his head. "He's a total mess actually; I don't think I've ever seen him like this before".

"Damn it," the captain grimaced.

"Yeah, I was just locking up for him. Hank left in such a rush, everything was left wide open," he continued. "He's down at my place now with detective Brookes."

"She's here already?" Captain Beesley queried. "That was quick. It's fantastic to see you four getting on so well now," he added, trying to raise the spirits a little.

"Yeah, definitely," Sam agreed. "It was a tough start, but she's been a great help lately. And Hank and Dustin Moorland seem to have struck up a bit of a friendship too. It's definitely made things a little easier. Or at least it was until now," Sam sighed.

"Let's go see what we're dealing with then shall we?" Captain Beesley told them and the three of them made their way down the corridor towards Sam's apartment.

"Ok, I'm sure I don't need to tell you this, but timing is of an utmost importance on this so let's get straight to business, shall we?" Agent Masters announced, seizing an early opportunity to take control of the situation shortly after entering the room. Hank remained silent but between the rest of them, they quickly summarized the case and what they knew about it, hoping that somehow, they could draw up a plan of what to do next.

"What else can you tell us?" Sam asked.

"Ok, well, what I can confirm is that right now Anthony Drummond is out of the country. He is due to arrive back in with the shipment that we are planning a welcoming committee for, so everything that's happened within the last week or so will be down to Hitzfeld alone unless of course, he is working with someone else," Agent Masters suggested.

"That's great," Sam exclaimed. "That means we can pick him up for abduction at the very least."

"Well, yes and no," Agent Masters responded. "We have enough reason to pick him up yes, but we still need to be careful. If even the slightest whiff of this gets back to the traffickers, they will know we are on to them and it's game over for us."

"But with Drummond out of the way and the rest of them tied up with the incoming shipment, surely now's the time to act? By the time they realize he's missing it'll be too late," Sam questioned.

"I know what you're saying and if we had that final piece of evidence then I'd say you were right but without that, it's just too much of a risk I'm afraid," Agent Masters sighed.

"With all due respect sir, this is an attack on one of our own, we simply don't have the time to just sit around and wait," Captain Beesley argued. "We've already lost too much to this asshole; I cannot and will not allow him to take anymore. I'm afraid we need to move on this, and we need to move NOW!"