Sam, unable to drive in his current condition, had called a taxi instead of asking one of the guys for a ride. He had a feeling Sarge wouldn't like that very much but Sam needed time to think by himself.

First off, there was the matter of Jules' vest not working properly. He leaned back into the old leather seat of the taxi and thought about that. Vests weren't much protection against sniper bullets, true, but the shooters had only been across the alley, about fifteen or twenty feet away from himself and Jules. The vest should've done more then it had, at least he thought so. Sam made a mental note to ask whoever had gotten the vest in Forensics just what had happened.

Then of course was the biggest problem of all, Joe Patrick, who was still on the loose, as were his followers. Sam wanted to get those guys more then he'd ever wanted to get anyone else. These guys had hurt someone he cared about and Sam Braddock didn't stand for that.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

"Hey, anyone heard from Sam?" Parker stuck his head into the breakroom. "According to Jules , he was released from the hospital a couple hours ago."

"Really? He didn't say anything to me about being released today." Ed shook his head.

"Nope, haven't heard from him." Wordy agreed. "Sorry, Sarge."

"No, Jules, no one here has heard from him." Parker went back to the phone.

"He said he was headed home but I've tried his home phone and his cell phone, no answer at either." Jules told him.

"Okay, well, I'll get a patrol car to go by his house."

"Thanks, Sarge."

"Better yet, I'll go myself, all right? Maybe he's just sleeping and turned his phones off. I'm sure everything is fine with him."

"Okay. Thanks. Let me know when you find him, will you?" Jules said, sounding a bit more relieved.

"Sure, I will. Just hang in there, watch some television or something but don't worry, I'm sure he's just sleeping or forgot to turn his phone on." Parker told her.

"I hate television." Jules muttered. "All right, Sarge." she said, later.

"He's fine." he repeated and then hung up. "Guys, I'm going over to Sam's place, Jules is worried because she can't get a hold of him so I'm going to go make sure he got home all right. Ed, you're in charge til I get back. No funny business, okay?"

"Got it, boss," Ed replied, smiling.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Sam didn't live very far from the station, only about twenty minutes so it didn't take Parker long to find the place.

He lived in a small one bedroom house, a house that a realtor would probably term a "cottage" although Parker felt confident that Sam would never call it such a feminine name. Parker parked behind the motorcycle in the driveway, one of the guys had brought it over while Sam was in the hospital. He got out and headed up the brick driveway to the front door which was in need of a new coat of paint. "Jules could probably give him some of her leftover paint." Parker thought, remember Jules was in the midst of renovating her house. He rang the doorbell but there was no answer. He pounded the door but still no answer. He tried to peer in the windows but couldn't see in past the navy curtains. Briefly, he wondered who had hung the curtains since Sam seemed to be more like a blinds kinda guy. But there were no light on, not that he'd really expected there to be at three in the afternoon but there was no other sign of life either.

Parker went back to his car, intending to go back to the station to look up Sam's parents' number in the personnel files. "Maybe he went to his parents, although I doubt it," he thought, not really thinking that was the case.

Just then his phone rang. It shocked him a bit to see Sam's name on the caller id. "Where have you been?"

"Well, hello, to you,too. And I'm fine, how are you?" Sam's voice sounded slightly tinny over the cell phone which only served to remind Parker, once again, he needed a new cell phone.

"Sam, Jules has been calling you all afternoon. I'm at your house. No one could find you!" Parker was not very happy.

"Well, as it turns out, I didn't go home." Sam didn't sound too happy either. "I wasn't aware I had to check in with everyone before I did anything."

"That isn't what I meant and you know it. Now, please, where are you?"

"In the Forensics lab."

"Why are you at work instead at home, resting?"

"I have spent the last week resting. Now, I want answers." Sam told him, determined.

"Answers to what exactly?" Parker was driving back to the station.

"Two things. One, why didn't Jules' vest work, which is why I'm in Forensics now and two, I want Joe Patrick and all his commando buddies behind bars or dead."

"The first, the lab is working on. The second, Sam, every cop in Toronto is working on."

"The lab isn't working on it anymore. They know why it didn't work." Sam said, triumphant something was finally going right.

"And what exactly would that be?" Parker wanted to know as much as Sam and wondered why the lab hadn't called him first like he'd told them to. "Probably because Sam is already there. They think I sent him." he thought.

"Well, it's because," Sam began.

A/N- my brother pointed out to me that kevlar vests aren't any good to sniper rifles so i had to explain that the shooters weren't really all that far away! also, don't you just hate how i've given you yet another cliffhanger?? now, i'm off to study kevlar! please read and review