The little redhead rolled over again clutching the small touchstone in her hand as she tried to drift back off to sleep. Her mind and thoughts began to wander back to Reyes yet again. But now her thoughts and emotions were beginning to settle, compared to just moments before. She felt at ease and comforted again with no unshakable feelings of impending danger towards her lover.

…Hum… This latest dream had really done a number on her, there for a minute or so, once she had begun to remember it more clearly. Moreover, her mother had not been the one she had been calling out to either. No. It had been Reyes that she had been calling out to in warning: "Moni! STOP!" not "Mommy, stop." She wondered, too, what had been causing all of these consistent horrid dreams about the possibilities of Reyes being hurt or in impending danger from something lurking around just out-of-sight and out-of-sound.

The first nightmare had occurred last Wednesday morning, in the wee hours of the morning, while they were both still in Helena, Montana sleeping in two separate beds in two separate rooms inside a little motel in the wintry cold northern state; and that first dream had been horrifying, to the point that she had gotten up from her bed, slipped on her robe, and left for Reyes' room in need of Reyes' comforting arms to surround her and drive away her fears. …Ohhh God… She rolled over again as visions of that horrific nightmare - Reyes lying in her arms from a shotgun blast to the chest, bleeding out all over her, with not one damn thing she could do about it, medical doctor or no medical doctor, and gasping for her one last breath before ultimate death - entered her thoughts. …Ohhh God… Why was she having these consistent horrifying dreams about Reyes getting critically hurt or possibly even killed while trying to protect her and her unborn son these last few days? But then this latest dream did not seem to be related to all the others she had dreamed of Reyes trying to protect her and her unborn son. This dream seemed to have had its own agenda; and whatever it had been it appeared to be over with now.

"Mmm," she rolled over again then glanced at the clock. She wondered what her lover was doing right about now, over 860 miles away from her, as she hunted down the kidnappers of the two missing children. Well. She was confident that whatever she was doing she was giving it her best as she narrowed her search down to find the two missing kids. Moreover, she had faith in her that she would find them in time and be successful with their rescue. She clutched her pillow a little more snuggly then ultimately drifted back off to sleep.

SAC Reigel cleared his throat yet again indignant with this latest screw-up by his six best federal agents in the field, four local NOPD Squads, and the local NOPD SWAT Team. "How in the hell can five people get past forty suits - armed and in position - and already prepped that they were coming through one of those tunnels? Anyone care to explain?" he snapped again.

ASAC Cunningham just sat back in his chair and sighed loudly.

"Well? What the hell happened, people?" Reigel yelled again at his three best agents.

Cunningham glanced over to Pierce, then to Reyes.

Reyes cocked an eyebrow then eased up in her seat closing her eyes herself in disbelief. How could an entire combined forty-person-squad of highly-trained law enforcement personnel – part Local and part Federal – armed and in position surrounding an old dilapidated warehouse manage to let a measly five people slip through their fingers from inside those storage tunnels? She hadn't an answer either.

"Well, that's not gonna cut it, Reyes! Tell me something!" Reigel roared at the baffled brunette.

"Sir?" Pierce immediately jumped to his partner's defense.

"No. No Brian," Reyes stopped him reaching over and touching his arm for a moment. A part of her felt that she deserved SAC Reigel's livid indignation, but then a part of her knew that she did not. Not everything that went down bad was her fault. Even though she consistently tended to take the blame for things that went down bad - whether she was any where near the screw-up or not - not every single thing that ever went down bad was her fault. She could not control every single person out there in the field and make sure that all of them were in the right places at the right times and doing their jobs the right way. "I um, I'm not sure that I—"

"You're not sure. Well, what the hell do you expect me to tell that family sitting out there? Huh?" Reigel yelled at her again.

"I'll tell them," she spoke calmly rising up from her seat.

"The hell you will!" he yelled at her again then got up himself. "Sit down!" he yelled again.

She quickly sat back down.

"And come up with another plan! Now! Damn it!" he yelled at her and the other two agents in the room once again then left closing the door quite loudly behind him.

A few moments of silence passed in the room.

"Ohhh. Well. Whew. That went well," Cunningham finally said, glancing back over to the perturbed brunette again, then to Pierce, then back to her. "Well, what do you think happened?"

Reyes pursed her lips nibbling on her lower lip for a moment then took a sip of her coffee. "Well. I smell a rat."

"A rat? Explain."

Reyes then took a pen and piece of paper out of her jacket pocket and began to sketch out the underground network of passageways and tunnels that she, Pierce and the two other two-person teams of agents had followed earlier this morning, as they forced out the kingpin, his right-hand man, and three other gang leaders out from the belly of the network to three main tunnels. The Local PD and SWAT Teams were already in place, surrounding the three main tunnels, when one squad suddenly flanked to the right of the far left tunnel, backing up another team that was already in place leaving the far left tunnel free and clear for the five men to escape.

"Reyes?" Cunningham said again.

"Here. Right here," she said pointing at the far left tunnel. "Bailey and Brown had them cornered, in their sites, then radioed it in, shots were fired, then the outer squad suddenly flanked to the right. Why?"

Cunningham then eased up in his chair to look at the hand-sketched drawing. "You sure they flanked right?"

"Yes. I broke in on their squad leader's orders, ordered them back to the left - back to their original position - but by then it was too late."

"Miscommunication?"

"No. No way. Not twice in a row," the frustrated brunette shook her head.

"Twice in a row? What do you mean?"

"Yesterday, with Elisa. Who led that last squad in during the rescue attempt?"

Both men shrugged.

"Well. We need to find out. But my guess is it's the same one that led this squad in to mistakenly flank right this morning."

"Incompetence?" Cunningham offered giving the unknown squad leader and his team the benefit of the doubt.

"No. Don't think so. I've got a bad feeling about this one."

Cunningham furrowed his brow. "Reyes. You know what you're saying?"

"Yes," she nodded.

"We can't go after a cop without any concrete evidence," he countered.

"Sure we can. Quietly," she winked as she retrieved the small hand-sketched map from the table then eased up from her chair.

"But, Reyes?" He cocked an eyebrow yet again.

"Three beignets and a latté it's our trigger happy cop from last night. Betcha."

"Lt. Manning?" Pierce chimed in his eyes widening with surprise.

She nodded as she eased towards the door.

Cunningham began to argue, "Reyes. I can't go after him without anything more than your gut feeling. We've got to have something more than that."

"Then we'll get it," she said glancing back over to her partner.

Pierce nodded in agreement. "I'll ask around, see what I can come up with. I gotta friend over there in his unit. Think he's with the seventh."

"Good. Just be careful," both other agents said in unison then smiled at each other.

Reyes then cleared her throat, "Okay. Well, the last thing we need is for him to make us on this. We'll either drive him underground or he'll instantly end this wicked little game of his, leaving us two dead children on our hands."

…Tap, tap…

SAC Reigel suddenly opened the door. "Reyes. Chamberlain family wants to see you."

…Oh boy… "Okay. Tell them I'll be with them in a moment," she pursed her lips.

Reigel nodded then left the room again.

"You up to it?" Pierce touched her arm.

"Yeah. Just wish I had some good news, something of real significance to tell them."

"You do. We're closer than we were," he encouraged.

"Yeah. Maybe," she said then left the room.

She then walked down the long hallway towards the ladies' room to give herself some privacy for a few moments before facing the Chamberlain family. She entered the small room, glanced up in the mirror, then dampened a paper towel using it to dab away some of the telltale signs of extreme exhaustion. She was beginning to look bad - really bad - with the deep, dark circles surrounding her bloodshot eyes. The strain of the case, strain of the pace, strain of the constant surveillance, strain of the ultimate long interrogations of several known gang members, and strain of lack of any real sleep or proper nutrition was beginning to show more readily in her eyes and countenance. She sighed wearily as she washed her face and hands, then soothed her weary eyes with the cool, clear water. She then reached inside her jacket pocket, grabbed another breath mint, then left the room headed for the Chamberlain family waiting patiently in the visitor's lounge.

"Agent Reyes!" the nice young man from the Reagan International Airport and Airbus Jet yesterday morning that had flown them both to New Orleans jumped up from his seat.

"Todd," she greeted him warmly, shaking his hand, then smiled at his younger sister and brother-in-law, the young mother and father of the missing little boy, Cody Chamberlain; the same young mother and father whom she had met coincidentally back in Georgetown, Washington, DC, two nights ago at the Shops at Georgetown Park, and then the same young mother and father whom she had officially met again last night, due to this case and their youngest kidnapped son.

"Agent Reyes. Good morning," the young mother quickly stood up next to her older brother.

"Good morning," Reyes said walking over to her and giving her a warm hug. "Would you like something to drink? Coffee? Tea? Or anything?"

"No. No, we. We just don't know what to do with ourselves this morning, and we. Well, we wanted to see you," the young woman said as she let go of the tall brunette.

"I understand."

"Agent Reyes?" the young father then stood too, as he held their older son in his arms, whom was sleeping quite peacefully in his protective arms for the moment, oblivious to the seriousness of the situation and the ramifications it could initiate for his missing little brother. But then that was understandable for a young boy of his age, because he was only seven-years-old himself.

Reyes barely smiled nibbling on her lower lip. His tearstained eyes and cheeks were tearing at her heartstrings so much she could hardly breathe.

"Um, Agent Reyes? Is there anything? Anything new, that you could tell us?" he asked.

"Um, no, I'm afraid not. Nothing more than you have already been made aware of."

He nodded then turned to his wife as he lowered their heavy little son back down to the couch so he could sleep more comfortably.

The young mother then said, "But, Agent Reyes, we were told that you had the ringleader surrounded last night, and that once you had him in custody it would be just a matter of time before…" she shrugged, full of questions and apprehension, just as any fearful mother would be.

"I know. I realize that Mrs. Chamberlain, but I'm afraid that he managed to slip away from us this morning. I am under the impression that SAC Reigel talked to you earlier and explained the latest?"

The young mother nodded, "Yes, but we wanted to hear it from you. We trust you."

…Ohhh God… Reyes felt her heart tighten inside her chest. …Oh God… They trusted her. They trusted her to find their missing son. Hence, she would do everything in her power to be worthy of that trust and find their missing son, before it was too late, and bring him back to them alive and whole, both physically and emotionally. "Well. Okay. I'm not sure what you've been told this morning, so, if I repeat anything—"

"Oh no, that's fine. I'm not sure if we are hearing everything correctly anyway. We're just so…" the young mother shrugged.

Reyes nodded again in understanding as she reached over and clasped the young woman's shoulder for a moment. The young woman smiled in spite of her fear and anxiety. Reyes smiled, too, then began to explain to her, her husband, and her older brother more clearly about the latest events of the case, giving them all of the pertinent information that she could without jeopardizing their progress.

The family listened attentively, asking questions when appropriate, then gave more information as needed as they listened then remembered something else that they thought might be of significance and help towards finding their missing son. Reyes listened carefully and asked more questions herself about the timeframe of the crime, the crime scene area and any other relevant events that may have led up to Cody's ultimate abduction, juggling any new information that she could from his father's memory, as he began to go through the seemingly typical early Friday morning events again.

He would never have believed that planning an early morning fishing trip with his two young sons and young cousin yesterday morning would have ever led to his youngest son's kidnapping; and he felt such guilt and remorse over that. How could he have not seen what was about to happen to his youngest son? How could he not have been more aware and more protective of his overly-zealous young son - so outgoing and trusting of everyone, including complete strangers, and ironically, including this very agent that was now talking to them and leading the taskforce in search of his missing son? He suddenly burst into tears, sobbing with extreme feelings of guilt and remorse over his youngest son, and begging his wife to please forgive him for being "so bad", and "such a bad father", and "such a bad husband", and "such a bad…" anything else that he could think of as he rambled through his fretful tears.

"Oh no, honey, don't do this," Mrs. Chamberlain instantly grabbed onto her sobbing husband without any unwarranted blame or anger directed towards him as she began to cry more fretfully right along with him. He was a wonderful father and a wonderful husband; and what had happened to their little son could have just as easily happened to her; and she knew that. Many a time, she had allowed her younger son to wander away from her sight for a few moments trying to teach him to keep an eye out on his surroundings, and on where his parents were at any given moment. But, this time, it had backfired - tragically.

…Oh Christ… Reyes swallowed hard to keep from bursting into a fit of tears herself from watching this sweet young family suffer so as the persistent lump in her throat tried to push through. She could not afford to cry herself in front of this nice, young family. But in many ways, it reminded her of her very first case with John Doggett's son, Luke; and that case had been one of the hardest cases she had ever worked on in her life.

The nice young man - Cody's uncle – then eased her over towards the main window of the small room away from his sniffling sister and sobbing brother-in-law. "Agent Reyes, tell me the truth. Tell me what to expect. Please," he pleaded.

She smiled warmly gazing into his receptive eyes. "Todd. All I can say is, don't ever give up on a miracle, okay? He's out there. He's alive. And with God's help, and my guts and determination, we'll find him, okay?"

The nice young man nodded seeing the gallant guts, dogged determination and fervent fortitude in her eyes. "So what do I do right now?"

"What you're doing. Be supportive. Listen and give support as needed. And don't hold your brother-in-law responsible. He is a good man, a good father. It could have happened to anyone. Even you. Learn something from this where your own two daughters are concerned. Never let a young child wander off out of your sight. Never. I know that's hard to do but…"

"But if you do, something like this could happen."

"Yes. Exactly. It only takes a few seconds, and they can be swiped away and gone."

He nodded then glanced out the window at the big splash of bright light scattering through the dark, dreary morning sky. "Crap, this rain just won't quit will it?"

She smiled again, "No, not this time of year. It rains and rains and rains until you wonder if you'll just drift away into the Mississippi."

He smiled as he glanced back up to her noticing the dark heavy circles under her eyes. "You need some sleep."

"I've had some."

"Not enough."

She smirked.

"You were on a case back in DC?"

"Um, no, I had just flown in from one though. Actually, one of our own went down this week and he's to be buried later this afternoon."

"Oh, God, sorry to hear about that."

"It happens."

The nice young man nodded again. "Well, was that your partner? Your girlfriend back at the airport?"

Reyes smirked then cocked an eyebrow yet again.

"Oh God, I'm sorry. Guess I shouldn’t have asked you that around here."

She chuckled then licked her lips. …Hum. My girlfriend, huh? Oh yeah. I guess you could call her that. My girlfriend. Umhum… She liked the sound of that. "Yeah," she grinned again as her heart and soul began to tingle with love and adoration towards the little redhead to whom he had been referring.

"Well. I'm cool," he said grinning himself.

She chuckled again. "I think I figured that out, back at the airport. But, thank you anyway, for telling me," she grinned again.

He grinned and winked, too.

Just then, the Garcia family entered the small room. The grandmother of little Elisa spotted the tall, dark, raven-haired beauty standing next to the young man then rushed over to her. "¿Agente Reyes? ¿Encontró algo?" she asked enthusiastically. "Ah. Perdone," she whispered suddenly, realizing that not all in the small visitor's lounge could speak Spanish. It was a simple matter of courtesy towards another with the Isleños. They rarely spoke in their native tongue around those that did not speak the language. They were a very courteous, respectful and dignified people. If only other cultures could learn from their quiet spirit of strength and graciousness.

"Ah. Señora Garcia," Reyes immediately turned to the older woman giving her a warm tight hug as she smiled at Elisa's father, two older brothers and older sister. Elisa's mother had died giving birth to her - their precious little baby sister - whom had now been missing for almost forty-six hours. "Please, sit down, and I'll tell you what I've just told them, okay?"

The older woman nodded. Reyes again offered coffee, tea, bottled water or whatever to the newest family to arrive as they all shook their heads, but thanked her anyway for the courtesy. She then began to introduce them to the Chamberlain family explaining whom each of them where. They all shook hands, greeting each other with a love, compassion, and understanding that went beyond human comprehension. The young Mrs. Chamberlain then reached over and hugged the older Señora Garcia, understanding her overwhelming sense of fear, trepidation and loss.

"Well, if you don't mind, I'd like to bring our newest arrivals up-to-date, too, all right?" Reyes said glancing over to the Chamberlain family again as she took a seat in front of her small audience. They all nodded in agreement. "I may switch to Spanish at times, to make sure everyone in this room understands me clearly. Okay?" she said again glancing at the Chamberlain family once more. They all nodded in agreement understanding the situation. The older lady, Señora Garcia, did not speak as fluent of English as her younger family members; and Reyes wanted to respect that and respect the older woman, making sure that she understood every single word she said about their progress in finding the two missing children.

Reyes then began to go over all of the progress they had made so far in catching many of the gang members and most all of the gang leaders, interrogating them and detaining them; which meant keeping them off the streets and hampering their means of communication with each other - and anyone else on the outside, for the time being - as she and her taskforce systematically learned more about where their secret locations were, one by one, systematically searching through the newest locations, narrowing the perimeters down until they would soon have another location to target, and then go in, this time using the Federal Hostage Rescue Team again and the Coast Guard as the front line and using the Locals for backup on the next rescue attempt.

All the family members nodded and commented, occasionally asking more questions, then commenting again on Reyes' careful answers, as she handled the very difficult meeting - both emotionally and intellectually - with the two distraught families. She had to be very careful not to give them too much information, false information, or false expectations and false hope, and yet somehow not deter their hope, enthusiasm and beliefs that they would soon see their missing children and grandchild again. It was so difficult to do, meet with a family of a missing child or grandchild; and yet here Reyes was, having to meet with the two families at the exact same time. It was so hard to do and so wearing on the soul.

She glanced at her watch, approaching a stopping-place for her unofficial debriefing to the two families, just as her partner entered the room. He motioned to her to come over to him for a moment. She did, quickly listened to what he had to say, then began to politely excuse herself from the room.

"¡Un momento!" Elisa's grandmother then spoke up rushing over to the tall brunette.

"¿Si, señora?"

The older woman then pulled her down to whisper something into her ear.

"¿Qué?" Reyes' eyes widened. "¡Ah! ¡Mi Dios!" Why had they not been told this before now? Not that it would have helped them find little Elisa in a more timely manner. But, still, they needed to know such life-threatening information as this just the same. She glanced over at her partner, "Brian, we've got a problem."

"What's up?" he said coming up to stand beside her.

She then leaned in and whispered, "It's Elisa. She's diabetic."

"What?! Oh God."

Reyes then pulled the older woman in for another tight embrace whispering soothing words into her ear. The older woman nodded, clutching the tall agent tight against her breast, then whispered something else into her ear.

Reyes nodded, "Entendida." …Understood… then let go of the older woman. "Brian? Meet me in the Situation Room in five minutes," she said.

"Okay," he nodded then left the room.

She then gave the older woman another quick hug, whispering something else into her ear, then went over to Cody's mother, quickly whispered something else into her ear as well, then gave her another quick hug, too, before ultimately leaving this room for the Situation Room.

Reyes entered the room with a dogged determination that she had not felt in years. Elisa was a juvenile diabetic. …Damn!... Which meant that they were running out of time for more reasons than one. …Damn! Why this little girl? Why? Why any little girl? Why any little boy? Damn!... She felt the anger rising in her soul as the blood began to boil in her veins. She quickly walked over to the 8"x10" black-and-white photograph of the top gang leader hanging on the cork board - the same sadistic cult teen gang leader that had managed to escape their clutches earlier in the wee hours of the morning – and smashed the back of her fist against the mug shot. "He's mine, damn it! By tonight, he's mine!" she yelled as she banged the back of her fist against it one more time.

"Reyes, calm down," Pierce said.

"No! If I calm down, I'll… No!"

"Reyes?"

"No! I will not lose this child! Either child! To this worthless piece of… Ugh!" she growled in anger. "Damn it! Have you found out who led that piss poor fuckup of a squad this morning?!" she growled again.

"Yeah," he stated calmly. …Oh buddy… When Reyes was pissed – which did not happen very often, but on this particular morning she was royally pissed – one did not want to be in her line of fire, not if one wanted to keep their ass in tact.

"Well?!"

"Well, it wasn't Manning."

"What?! You have got to be kidding me!"

"Nope."

"Let me see that," she said as she took the report from his hand. She began to scan through the document then turned the page to check on the previous fuckup that had happened on the first rescue attempt earlier yesterday morning around this time. "What the fu… Frig!" she fussed as she read the two different names, indicating two different commanding officers; and neither officer had been Lt. Jerry Manning. "No. No way. Something is wrong here, I just know it," she said as she looked at her partner.

Pierce just shrugged, "I don't know what to say, Reyes. It's right there."

She narrowed her eyes then headed for the door.

"Reyes?" he called after her but it was too late. She was gone.

**********************************