A/N: I thought I would hold off, wait until I had a half dozen chapter written before posting this first new chapter. Yeah, I failed. I think I am as eager to put this online as you are to read it, so, here it is. I do hope you enjoy it.

Chapter One: Gone

I tried to walk together
But the night was growing dark
Thought you were beside me
But I reached and you were gone
Sometimes I hear you calling
From some lost and distant shore
I hear you crying softly for the way it was before

~ Hymn for the Missing by Red

She is not in the park. On my way to catch up with her.

I sent the text off to Gideon and grumbled as I tried to not inhale the scent of the cab or it's driver. I tried very hard to not imagine what or who had sat on the seat I am on nor did I try to think of what had been cleaned off it, let alone when it had last been cleaned. My phone vibrated, distracting me and I was grateful for it.

Where is she?

E 22 & Brdway. OMW now.

To say that this was not like her would be a complete and total falsehood. This was exactly like her. The speed in which she had ran away from me had been a touch of a surprise. Oh, she had always been faster then me, but never this fast, nor this distracted. I knew I was in trouble when we had entered the park and I immediately lost sight of her. I knew that she had a tradition of going to the fountain first, which is where I saw a glimmer of her hair and her top before I lost sight of her as she ran past some bushes.

The further into the park, the further from me she was, but I had still managed to see a small tag of hers. I had been smart, or so I supposed, having called in a friend who had spotted her as she entered near the fountain, but lost her not long after that. He ran besides me for a bit as we tried to come up with an idea of how to follow her, but in the end I sent him home.

He left with a laugh remarking, "Try a leash next time! It works on dogs and small children!"

I laughed with him, but in my mind I knew that even if it were a good idea, the only thing in my mind was paparazzi pictures of her running in the park, on a leash, me flying in the air behind her like Marmaduke's owner in the comic strips. She might agree to it, I mused, if she could get a picture of me that way. I tried to not smile at the thought, I tried to retain the anger that had raged in me, but I never could. I should be able to, even for this, but I learned a long time ago to fight the battles you can win, be grateful to be alive otherwise.

I sighed as we approached the intersection and I handed the cabbie his fee as I exited. The anger was reborn when she was no where to be found. It was a crowded intersection, but she was gone. Again. She had said she would wait! I am too old to be playing these fucking games with her!

She wasn't in a game playing mood... I paused at that thought. She hadn't been. She had been running, totally absorbed in her thoughts, but... she wasn't playful. I grabbed my phone again and placed a call I hated making.

"Welch."

"Yeah, it's me. I need you to activate her GPS," I said with a grimace. I felt a tap on my shoulder and looked around quickly to see the hot dog vendor at my elbow. I turned away from him, hearing Welch chuckle on the other end of the line.

"She's at East 22 and Broadway," He answered in a rush. I was tapped on the shoulder again. I shrugged it off and looked around.

"No, I'm right here and she isn't."

"Uh... Look Jason, I haven't got time for games right now." And I do? "According to this, she's right next to you. Try turning around." He hung up as a cold chill ran through me.

I turned around, lowering the cell and faced the vendor, who was holding her phone.

"Your friend, he left this for you. Said he would take care of her. He was taking her to the hospital. A headache or something." He shrugged and turned from me, heading toward his long line of waiting customers. I ran after him and spun him around, nearly knocking him to the ground.

"My friend? What did he look like? Did he say who he was?"

The man looked around and shrugged. "He looked like... like a man, in a suit, with a cell phone." Typical New York camouflage.

"Fuck. Where did he go?"

The man shrugged again, looking back at his customers, who many now were checking their watches. Possible witnesses and will be leaving the area in minutes. Great. Fucking great. "He got into a cab. A yellow one."

I let him go and quickly called Welch, but was surprised to get a busy signal. I tried again but it was no better. I was losing ground here quickly. I called Gideon, my eyes scanning the area. There were school kids on a field trip sitting in a group, a few sidewalk artists, a couple of homeless, a clown, a vendor on the opposite corner, and lines of people waiting to get out of the area as fast as possible.

"Cross."

"Gideon, I got a problem. I need you to do me three favors," I said, holding my voice in a very controlled manner. I knew this man, and I knew, that like Christian, he will run to be here as fast as possible.

"All right... go ahead..." He was cooler... but still calm. I nodded quickly.

"See if you can contact Welch. I can't get through to him. Next I need you to come down here. 22nd and Broadway."

"And the third," he said, his words tighter and I knew he knew it wasn't good.

"Remain calm." I hung up and dialed Welch again.

"We're sorry, the number you are trying to reach is not in service-"

"Oh are you fucking kidding me!?" All eyes in line stared at me as I clenched the phone. They had to stay. They may be the only link. The only clue. I approached the line in front of the vendor who had had the phone. "People! People listen up! This is an emergency! I need to know if any of you saw the man who handed this phone to this man a few minutes ago. He got into a yellow cab."

"Oh! I did," An older woman said. She had grey hair that was just on this side of being blue and was wearing a visor, a pair of transition pop-cap thick lenses and an "I Love NY" tee shirt. "He was in a dark suit and he helped that girl. The one that fell."

"That's right. They got into the cab. It was yellow," her tourist friend said. She wore the same outfit, save her glasses were not as thick.

"Did any one else see anything? What did he look like? Where did he tell the cab driver to go?" I asked the crowd but the answers were all the same. "A yellow cab." "The hospital." "A man in a suit."

"I can't get through to Welch," I heard behind me and turned to see Gideon in jeans and a tee shirt, stepping off his motorcycle. "Where is she?"

I walked up to him and placed my hand on his shoulder, pulling him closer to me so it would be hard to be overheard. "I don't know. But we'll find her. The witnesses say that she may have had a headache and some samaritan took her to the hospital."

He pulled back, his eyes searching me beneath his furrowed brows. "And what do you think?"

"I think we'll find her. We will." It was the only thing I could offer him as I dialed my phone again. "Mack, it's Taylor. Look, I got a situation. I can't get through to headquarters."

"Yeah man, your shit went off the grid like ten minutes ago. What's up?"

"The boss is missing." Gideon looked at me, an eyebrow arched at the words I used, but then he turned back to his cell phone which he was furiously texting on.

"Oh man. What do you need?"

"Everything," I said releasing a breath.

"You got it." As I ended the conversation, I could hear sirens in the background. Gideon had called the police, something I should have done when I couldn't get a hold of Welch.

Mistakes will be made. Don't sweat them until after the event. Otherwise they will snowball.

Right, focus, I thought as I felt a tug at my elbow. I turned to find a teenager in the latest summer fashions of too short shorts and too little of a shirt. Her hair was in pony tails and she was chewing gum.

"Sir, I may have taken a picture of that guy you were asking about," she said as she handed me her tablet and popped a bubble of her gum. I looked down and moved into the shadow to see without the glare of the sun. It was a man in a dark business suit, dark grey or maybe black? Standing next to a yellow cab. Shana was in the picture too. She stood next to him, on the phone, maybe six feet away from him.

"I'll need a copy of it," I said, looking up at the girl. She nodded, but I couldn't give her a email, in case it was compromised, along with everything else at Headquarters.

Gideon walked over to see what I had and grimaced, then reached into his pocket and pulled out a jump stick. "Use this," he said and I handed it to the girl. She took it, and the tablet, and began transferring the picture along with the others she has taken in case she had other accidental gold mines of information.

"Do you remember anything about that picture?" Gideon asked as a Detective and a patrol officer approached us.

"To be honest," she said, popping another bubble. "I didn't really pay attention, but I think he walked into her. Before she fell, I mean."

"He knocked her over," Gideon asked, his eyes aflame. I was afraid, for a moment, that he would scare the teen off, but she didn't even bristle.

"No. She didn't fall then."

"She yelled at him then." I turned and the old woman's friend nodded as she seemed to remember. They came towards us, each nodding. "He bumped into her and she yelled at him."

"That's right," said the one who wore the thick glasses. She was pointing over to where it must have been and continued with her memory. "She said... she said..."

Her friend rolled her eyes and looked straight at me, shoving a finger in my chest. "What the fuck? Do I look fucking invisible to you?" My eyes grew wide at her question and her language.

"Yes! That's what she said!" I looked from one old lady to the other. "Oh, and then he gave her the dirtiest look... and then she fell." She shook her head at the memory.

"And then he acted like a Saint, taking her to the hospital and everything..." I escorted the two women to a police officer, asked him to make sure that they got their witness statements on video. Age is a tricky thing, and these women are spry, but how long they will hold the memory is questionable.

A dark blue SUV pulled up and Mack jumped out, two others exited as well, and all three headed our way. I looked at Gideon who was talking to the Detective and scanned the area to see a crowd forming as police cordoned off the area. The hot dog vendor looked none too pleased, his line now gone and his cart on "this side" of the police line.

As Mack approached me, his two companions split off and headed for Gideon and the Detective. Gideon looked up at me for a moment and I nodded at him and he turned back to the Detective.

"This is a bloody mess," Mack muttered, looking around the area. He was right and after every minute that passes by, things seem even worse. "What have you got?"

"Well, I can't get a hold of Welch for one thing. I have her cell phone, so can't track her by it. A non-descript 'business man in a dark suit on a cell phone' and he claimed to be taking her to the hospital."

"Vehicle?" I rolled my eyes and shook my head. "Let me guess; a yellow cab?"

"Yep."

"Oh, that's fucking lovely." Mack looked around again, one hand on his hip the other running through the few red hairs on his head.

"All right, well, I got a geek in the van mousing around on the few cameras. So far it's shit. Seems every camera was blocked by balloons, another hot dog wagon umbrella, or something. Not to mention we lost contact with your Headquarters."

"So you said. There is no possible way..."

"None," he agreed.

"Well," Gideon said, his voice rough. I knew he was struggling to remain calm, but we were going to have to get him out of here quickly. Just then I saw the first of the media appear.

"It's not good. Look, something is going on besides Shana being missing-"

"Taken. You mean taken," he growled and I swear I saw his hair rise. I want to correct him, but he's right. My heart feels heavy in my chest and the world is spinning uncontrollably. This can not possibly be happening... "What else?" I blink and look into his blue eyes that have taken on the chill of the arctic summer.

I pull him aside, placing my hand on his shoulder again and barely indicate where the cameras are setting up as I try to regain control of at least myself. I take a slow, slightly shaking breath in and release it before I inform him of what may be going on around us. As I lay each domino down his spine stiffens straighter and straighter.

Unlike Christian, who would, in a matter such as this, buckle before finding his strength, Gideon is built by the odds that are stacked against him. It fuels him and I see that for the first time in a very long time as he gathers himself like the Black Knight, encasing himself in the darkest, strongest armor he has before taking everyone on. The air around us seems to change, morphing to accept the battle-ready stance as he turns to face the cameras. Before he makes a move, he is surrounded by his squires. His knights of PR and Legalities. I watch as they, as a platoon, march forward. I expect Gideon to look out into the crowd of cameras and chose a reporter. In the past it had been a young woman, almost always on her first assignment. This time, however, there is no precedent. Nothing as important as this has ever hit this close to home. Not for him... not for me. Not like this.

I watch as he gazes over the crowd of technology before he turns and ducks a question to his PR lead. She is immediately on the phone and I watch as he turns his back to the press and says something to his Legal Ace. He shakes his head at what is said, and then shakes it again. Finally he strikes through the air indicating that whatever it is they are discussing, his way is the only way. The Ace nods finally and steps back. He looks up just as my phone beeps and I look down to see that the first of the news alerts has gone out and as I click it, I see live streaming feed from whatever Gideon is about to say. So far, the truth has not scrolled across the bottom of the screen.

"There is no way for me to say this, but to just say what has happened without a smoke screen," he says clearly through my phone. I look over and see every member of his team on their phone save the Ace. "Normally, I wouldn't hold a press conference until all parties have been contacted. Do not be mistaken; This is not a press conference and I have not asked you to come here. You have come here like flocking vultures to see what dirt you can find and throw it on the air waves to see what goes viral and who you can hurt first."

"Fuck. Gideon, we need them," I muttered as I look up, taking a step towards him. I see his Ace touch his shoulder, and though he shrugs him off, his body language... well it doesn't change, but it has a new tilt on it.

"I didn't call you here, but I need you here." I watch the image on my cell as he shrugs, closing his eyes as if in defeat. No, not surrender. In acceptance of the first hit, maybe? Like chess? The first move... The Queen has been taken, but not surrendered. And Gideon has an army of pawns. "There has been an attack here, in this city. In this city I call home. I have returned home from my honeymoon." He paused as a large round of gasps ran through the reporters and nearby crowd at the word and cameras started going off. "My wife and I returned home from our honeymoon a few hours ago. She had left our home to run safely in this city she has cared for and loved... on a peaceful jog through the park and the neighborhood. She was last seen here, on this corner," he said, sweeping his arms wide and I know I heard a crack in his voice. It was a short moment before he found his voice again. I didn't need the phone to hear his next words. They boomed through the noise and the traffic like cannons. "She was taken by a man dressed like your average New York business man in a dark suit, on a cell phone. He put her into a yellow cab type vehicle. He lied to the witnesses around him that she was hurt and he was taking her to the hospital. I called you vultures moments ago, but... but... I need your help to find Shana Grey Cross." A louder gasp rippled through the crowd and the cameras flashed, but Gideon turned away, leaving the crowd to the PR and more importantly, the police.

He walked backed toward me, his Legal Ace at his side. I could see that the lawyer wanted to say a million things, but now was not the moment. Gideon needed a moment. As they came within feet, the lawyer looked up at me and I nodded. He returned the nod, turning on his step, cell in his ear as he hurriedly walked off. Gideon sat down on the curb and I sat with him, wishing I had a brandy to hand him, but alcohol, no matter how needed was not what should be consumed right here, right now. Especially not in front of the media.

I looked up as I saw some movement out of the corner of my eye and noticed then hot dog vendor that had initially handed me Shana's phone. He gave me a small nod and I saw in his hand two small packages. When he saw me notice him, he hesitantly came forward.

"I am... sorry, that this has happened," he said, handing me two small paper bags. "Please. I know it's not much, and it's not what you are used to... but you will need something."

"Thank you," Gideon said, reaching into his pocket. I watched as he pulled out his wallet and handed the man every dollar that was in there. Gideon is not a light weight when it comes to carrying cash, and he could have easily just handed that man a few thousand dollars. The man's eyes grew wide and he tried to shake his head and tell him no, but no one tells Gideon Cross no. "Take it. Please. For your help, and your loss of business. She would want you to," he said, his voice breaking again. The vendor looked at me and then nodded, taking the cash.

"She will be all right. You'll see. A fool would take her from a man like you. You'll see, you'll have her back by dinner. You'll see." He walked away repeating that and I hoped his words were true.

I handed Gideon one of the bags which held a New York hot dog with the trimmings and a bottle of water. Gideon tore into the hot dog, chomping down half of it in his first bite. His second bite finished it and he guzzled down the water. He didn't need prodding to be told to eat. He knew it was going to be a long day, though we both hoped it was not. Both of our thoughts were on the prayer that the asshole that took Shana in broad daylight is freaking out because Gideon went so very very public so quickly. That was our prayer, but I prayed it wasn't falling on deaf ears.

"Mr. Cross?" We turned to face the Legal Ace as he headed our way. Gideon wadded up the paper remains of our meal and chucked it into the been over his shoulder without even looking. Distracted, tortured, but the man still has style. I shook my head at that thought and focused on the problems.

Your focus will make the difference. Lose it and the cause is lost. But don't starve it. Take time to refresh. You will need more breaks during a crisis then any other time. It's the only way you will succeed.

"Well?" He was gruff, but it was understandable, though surprisingly, he wasn't much more different then his CEO persona.

"Sir, we've contacted her family-"

"Shit! Dammit! I'm sorry G!" He turned to me, and this time he put his hand on my shoulder. "I didn't think-"

"Jason, enough. It's fine."

"It's not fine! She's been... and I am fucking blind man! I can't reach headquarters, we've got no tracking... and I couldn't keep up. And now, now I fucking forgot to call her family! I fucking forgot about Christian!" His grip on my shoulder increased and he put his other hand on my other shoulder.

"Jason, listen to me. She trusts you like no one else on this planet. She is not missing because you couldn't keep up. She was distracted. You said you've run with her like this. You knew keeping up with her was going to be hard. This was not your fault. And this thing with Welch and your Headquarters. I wouldn't doubt that that and the shit going on in her business accounts is all related. Whoever took her, whoever did this... They planned this a long long time." I looked up into his arctic eyes and saw something there. Something that had the spark of hope.

"What do you know?" The words were out of my mouth but I barely heard them. He responded with the same volume.

"I know business. You know security. We both know Shana." It was the spark of hope that I saw, because now, with those few words, I was able to center my mind on what I knew.

I knew he was right. If anyone knew the business world, it was Gideon. And Christian. Knowing her brother, he was on a flight now, and then there would be two bulls in that arena to deal with.

He was also right when he said I knew security. I knew that though hackers are brilliant and think in five dimensions (or so I have been told many times in the past) I also knew that the longer a hacker is in a "sandbox" the more footprints they leave behind.

Headquarters may be down and out, but Mack was tracking an issue before it went down. We have a geek-tech on-site who was here within minutes, pulling video and all sorts of feed before even the cops can. Don't be mistaken. We aren't "taking" the video and information. Only "copying" it. Technically it could be illegal, but we will have the information and be going over it before the cops get a judge to sign a warrant for the information.

"Have any of your properties been hit," I asked suddenly, but he shakes his head at me. "Too fast then..."

"What was?"

"You got married too fast. I doubt they even had a moment to think about hitting you as well."

"Yes... but... I can understand how helpful to them it was, taking down your security headquarters... but, no offense, wouldn't it have been easier to just take you out?"

"Not if they are hitting her," I said, shaking my head and watching him.

"Because it keeps you all deaf and blind," he said understanding. I shook my head again and he raised his iconic eyebrow at me.

"No. It's half hers."

A/N: Welcome back. So... What do ya think? I won't know what you think unless you review, so go ahead, give it a whirl. Also... be sure to check out my pintrest account. Got a few spoilers up. Here's the link, just add the dots and remove the spaces. pinterest dot com / killasshandra / another-shade-of-grey / ?e t dbc46c09