She went into her bedroom to retrieve her weapon, badge and cuffs, jamming her notebook into her back pocket out of habit as she ran down the stairs and through the dark living room, stopping only to grab her coat from the chair where she’d left it. The agent on duty stood when he saw her coming.

“Ma’am? Is everything all right?”

“I’m going to work.”

“Give me a second to disarm the system.”

“Hurry.”

Listening to the maddening beeps and dings of the security system disarming, she about lost her mind. It took every ounce of self-control she possessed not to scream her head off at the agent, who was only doing his job. She experienced the same level of frustration waiting for the agents working the Ninth Street checkpoint to let her through. Okay, so they weren’t expecting to see her at two-thirty in the morning. Deal with it!

She raced through the quiet streets on her way to HQ, her mind spinning with possibilities and scenarios, her muscles tight with fear. When forced to stop at a red light, she called Malone.

“Trace his cell phone,” she said.

“Tried that. It’s off.”

“Trace Hamilton’s.”

“We’re working on it, Sam.”

“Who knew they’d be together?”

“No one, other than a few people from our department and Hill.”

“Where is he?”

“He’s here, working the case with us.”

“Who did he tell that we were moving Hamilton to a safe house?”

“Only Josh’s mother, and they were taken before she knew. We looked for them for a couple of hours before we called you.”

“Why would someone grab them? What would be the motivation?”

“We’re working it from every angle.”

“I’m dying a thousand deaths, Cap.”

“So am I. We’re going to find them. I’ll see you when you get here.”

Sam pressed the accelerator, not caring what laws she broke or who she ran down on her way to HQ. The only thing that mattered was finding Freddie before something awful happened. Another something awful.

Because they needed all the help they could get, she called Gonzo.

Christina answered. “Sam?” she said, sounding sleepy.

“I need to talk to him.”

“He’s asleep.”

“Wake him up.”

“I’m not going to do that.”

“Christina! It’s an emergency. I need to talk to him.”

“I’m very sorry, Sam, but he’s not available right now. He’s sleeping for the first time in weeks. I won’t disturb him.”

She wanted to crawl through the phone and beat the hell out of Christina, but she’d probably feel the same way if the roles were reversed. “When he wakes up, tell him Freddie is missing.” She slapped the phone closed and pulled into the parking lot at full speed, ducking into the first available spot.