Chapter 6

Jamie was brought back to consciousness by a wet, hacking cough. The cough itself wouldn't be so bad if not for the fire it ignited across his chest and abdomen. He instinctively braced his midsection, keeping his eyes squeezed tight until it passed.

"Jesus," he rasped when it was over, surprised by sound of his own rapid and shallow breathing.

When Jamie finally opened his eyes, everything around him swirled before finally coming to a standstill. That did nothing but bring a foreboding sense of fear. His stomach lurched painfully and he took more cautious breaths. It wasn't until he carefully raised his arms to push away the soft, malleable object in front of him, that he realized where he was - his once trusty little sedan.

He gingerly turned his aching head and neck to take in the small confines and the world outside. Everything was awash in a soft gray-blue light creeping through the canopy of trees and dried brush that surrounded him.

The front of the Civic was crushed and lodged against the wide trunk of a tree and the windshield was nothing more than a wicked series of cracks distorting the view outside. Despite the damage, the car might very well have been his only saving grace.

Jamie fumbled with the release, needing to ease the pressure from the seatbelt cutting across his torso. After several attempts, the belt finally gave way and a yelp passed through his lips when he tried repositioning himself in the seat. Pushing off with his left leg sent a burst of pain through his knee that left him whimpering as another part of him throbbed. Jamie gingerly probed the tender and swollen joint and with a foggy brain, took full stock of all of his injuries.

With his head still pounding and his stomach flipping and flopping, a concussion was likely. He obviously screwed up his knee. The seat belt and airbag most certainly cracked or broke a rib or two. And an incidental touch to the left side of his head revealed a nice little gash. His hair was matted down by the tacky, drying blood that now stained his fingers. A glance to the left confirmed he could thank his window for that.

His took in his surroundings again and was surprised to hear nothing but his own breathing. The wooded area around him remained eerily silent.

He was alone.

"I gotta get out of here," he said out loud. Big mistake as the words led to another coughing fit. It left him breathless, nauseous and ramped up the pressure in his head. Jamie leaned back against the headrest as his mouth began to water, that dreadful, hated sign that his stomach was about to revolt. Try as he might, no amount of praying or steady breathing prevented it from happening. A turn to the right was all he could manage as the scant contents of his stomach came up.

Dark spots filled his vision and all thoughts about getting himself out of the car ceased. Soon enough he was out again.

"Almost there," Danny announced quietly while navigating his Jeep up the 91 through Connecticut. He took another peek at Joe in the passenger's seat and frowned. The guy hadn't said a word since they'd crossed into Connecticut, not after Danny had him repeatedly go through his last conversation with Jamie. Joe was annoyed that he questioned him like he would a witness in one of his cases, but Danny couldn't help it. He was a detective and this was their little brother they needed to find. Anything Jamie said during that call could lead them to his location, where they prayed he was safe and sound. Unfortunately, Danny couldn't help but think about the statistics they considered when dealing with missing persons on the job.

At one point he thought Joe had fallen asleep, but his brother remained rooted upright in his seat, staring across the median to the southbound lanes of the highway.

"Should be another few minutes 'til the exit," Danny continued. He wanted to know what was going through Joe's mind and make sure he was okay before they got to the gas station where they were scheduled to meet up with a local trooper.

"Yeah," Joe sighed. He refused to look away from the oncoming traffic. He didn't know how examining the roadside from the passenger seat of a Jeep doing 90 miles per hour in the opposite direction would help them find Jamie, but he needed to do something.

Danny knew what he was doing and it wasn't helping the situation. Even worse, it was adding to the guilt Joe was unnecessarily placing upon himself. "Chances of spotting something from this side aren't great," he pointed out.

"Doesn't mean I won't," Joe snapped, taking the comment as criticism from the great Detective Daniel Reagan.

Yup, still annoyed at me, Danny confirmed to himself. He blew out a deep breath and chose his next words carefully. They needed to work together, not be at each other's throats. "I know, I know. So we scour the 91 south on our own if nothing comes of the gas station video," he proposed. It was his plan all along. He wanted to be out here actively searching for Jamie just as badly as Joe, but they needed a place to start.

"Yeah," Joe agreed. His shoulders slumped in defeat as they approached another hour since he last heard his brother's voice.

"You okay?" Danny asked, despite knowing the answer.

"Are you? Jamie's missing, Danny," Joe countered. He directed an accusatory glare at his older brother, the first time he'd been willing to divert his focus off the road. He was pissed and Danny was the only one around to take his wrath.

In any other instance, Danny would have fired back with a stinging comeback. He had years of practice arguing with his three siblings and he was usually able to get the last word in with his brothers, not so much with his equally talented sister, but Danny recognized that their current situation was much more personal and required a different, more gentle approach.

"I know that, Joe. I'm sorry," Danny replied. If he wanted to be mad at him for all of this, it was fine. He could take it.

Joe deflated when Danny didn't fight back. His brother could be such a jerk. The guy always had to argue with anything he said, but now he was just going to sit there and take it? That only meant one thing: he was scared too. And that scared Joe even more.

Joe shook his head and went through his conversation with Jamie yet again. Danny had been right to question him on it earlier. It was all they had right now.

"I should have waited up for him," he said softly after several minutes of silence.

Danny's brow furrowed, barely hearing his words. "What was that?"

"I said, I should have waited up for Jamie," Joe repeated. The anger was now directed back at himself.

Danny sighed and rubbed a free hand up and down his tired face. "It wouldn't have stopped whatever it was that happened to him," he assured his brother.

"No, maybe not," Joe conceded. He knew that, but fear was winning out. "But we would have been out here sooner."

"It's not your fault, Joe," Danny stated, needing his brother to get that through his thick skull. Unfortunately, rationale went out the window when Danny's own fears started to creep out of the box he had shoved them into. He too searched for someone or something to blame for this mess.

"He should have waited! Why didn't the damn kid wait until today to drive back home?! It would have been safer instead of driving home all alone late at night!" Danny shouted while keeping his eyes on the road.

Danny Reagan was back and when it came to Jamie, the kid hardly ever got the benefit of the doubt.

Joe turned toward his crazy brother, ready to defend their youngest sibling. "He's twenty-three years old and in law school. He's not a kid, Danny. You were already a cop working toward your gold shield by the time you were his age. He can manage a drive between Boston and New York, he has a million times."

"Obviously not, Joe! And he's different!" Danny argued. Jamie was groomed to take a different path in life than the rest of the men in the family. That was why he was halfway to being a lawyer like Erin. He wasn't built to be a cop like the rest of the Reagan men, at least that's how Danny saw him. He interpreted Jamie's book smarts, patience and golden boy persona as an inability to handle the harsh, cold world they dealt with day in and day out. He needed to stay tucked away behind four walls with dusty old law books to be safe.

"No, he's not, Danny," Joe countered. He knew what Danny's problem with Jamie really was. He didn't give their brother enough credit and associated their mother's life-long desire to keep Jamie out of the family business as Jamie being weak. Nothing could be further from the truth and Joe often wondered how Jamie wasn't walking a beat already considering the stars he got in his eyes everytime the men sat around the table and traded cop stories. He would bet a year's salary that Jamie Reagan would walk a beat someday, it all depended on when his baby brother gathered the courage to pull the trigger.

"He's a Reagan, just like you and me - strong and smart enough to handle most things that come his way, but he's not invincible, Dan, and neither are we. Something happened to him out here, something out of his control," Joe said. He could see that Danny was scared, but that didn't mean he should blame Jamie for this, whatever this was.

Maybe he should stop blaming himself as well.

Danny clenched his jaw. Joe was right and he hated that. "He's always going to be my kid brother, Joe. I'm just…," he trailed off while pulling onto the exit ramp in Cromwell. Danny bit his lip to keep from saying something stupid again.

"I know," Joe finished for him. They were under a lot of stress and weren't the best at expressing their feelings. "Me too, Danny. Me too."

The pair didn't speak again until they arrived at the gas station and pulled alongside the Connecticut State Police vehicle parked off to one side of the convenience store.

"Detectives Reagan," the uniformed trooper presumed with a gentle smile and a polite tip of his hat directed at the New Yorkers.

"That's us," Danny confirmed, barely sparing the other man a glance to study the layout of the station. "Danny Reagan and this is my brother, Joe."

"Trooper James Adler, Connecticut State Police," he said, shaking the detectives' hands. "Captain Ballard asked me to meet you. We'll assist anyway we can in locating your brother."

"We appreciate the help, Trooper Adler," Joe said with a tight, but appreciative smile. Joe scanned the area as well. There was little traffic on the road in front of the station with nothing more than a competing station and a small diner on the other side.

"Jim, please," he offered before leading them to the storefront.

"The manager should be inside waiting for us, he came on shift at six this morning," Danny advised.

"Harry Darte. Yeah, I got briefed directly by the Captain. I got here twenty minutes ago and spoke to him. I have him cuing the video up to 9:45 p.m. last night to save us time. Follow me," Adler said as he pushed the door open and headed toward the manager behind the counter.

Alright, things will begin moving quickly now. Detectives Reagan are on the case!