Maria walked slowly behind Joe her head bent. When Joe stopped she looked up and saw Craig, she gave him a small smile but his eyes gave her a warning, she felt hurt and her smile slipped from her face. She lowered her eyes back to the floor. Joe took hold of her hand, she didn't look up she just let him lead her to wherever he was taking her. She didn't notice the two familiar faces watching.... "Oh my god that's Maria." "I know Isabel, I saw her too." "We should follow them." They went to follow but two heavies barred their way, Isabel was tempted to use her powers but there were too many people around. She took hold of Liz's arm and moved back, smiling at the two heavies. "We have to tell Michael and the others....." *-*-*-*-*-*-* Maria stood in the elevator, Joe and Craig were talking. "How the hell did it happen?" Craig cleared his throat he didn't want to talk about how Frank Deluca had died, at least not in front of Maria. He looked at her bent head, her eyes had sparkled when she looked at him earlier. But it had gone quickly when he didn't smile back at her. He couldn't let Joe suspect him before he had helped her get her freedom back. Joe noticed Craig looking at Maria, he put his arm around her shoulder. "I understand, we shouldn't talk about it in front of the 'kid'." Craig grimaced to himself, he needed to speak to Maria, there seemed to be something off about the way she was standing there letting Joe touch her. The elevator pinged and the doors slid open. Joe walked off the elevator, his arm still wrapped around Maria. Craig opened the door to Joe's penthouse, stood aside to let them enter before going in behind them. *-*-*-*-*-*-* Isabel rang Michael's phone, his voice mail came on. "Michael, where the hell are you? You need to get back to the casino, it's about Maria." She clicked her phone off, Liz looked at her hopefully. "He's got it switched off, I've left a message." "What do we do now?" "We wait until they come back, I want to be here just in case that guy takes Maria out of here." Liz nodded her head in agreement, something made her look up, she squealed when she saw Max walk into the foyer the others following behind. Liz and Isabel ran to them, Isabel ran into Alex's arms. Liz stopped herself from propelling herself into Max's arms, she studied his face, he looked exhausted. Instead she his arm and lead him towards the elevator. "Isabel why don't you tell them our news, I'm taking Max upstairs." Isabel looked at Max, he looked like he was ready to collapse. "Max?" "I'm just tired, I'll tell you later." He let himself be pulled away by Liz, he wanted to lie down, just for a little while. When Max and Liz were out of sight they all started talking at once all except Jim who couldn't get a word in edgeways. Michael was going on about what Jemma had told Jim and Max, while Isabel was telling them about Caldwell, Alex was more interested in telling her about Max and Michael's nicknames for each other. Jim rolled his eyes, he became still when Isabel's words became clear to him. "Guys, guys, shut up a minute. Hey shut up." They couldn't hear him over their words, he put his fingers in his mouth and whistled, it was ear piercing, but at least they stopped talking. Unfortunately so did the rest of the people in the foyer, they stood gaping at the group. Jim gave them a gently push towards a sofa in the corner of the foyer. He sat them down. Michael was looking at him funny. "What was that about?" "You wouldn't shut up, none of you would. Isabel what were you saying?" Michael sat up straighter and started talking again. Jim clamped his hand over Michael's mouth, blocking out his words. "Michael, shut up. I want to hear was Isabel was saying." He removed his hand, Michael sputtered. "But she doesn't know our news, how close we are to finding Maria." Isabel gave a huge smile and secretly preened herself, her news was way better than Michaels. "Michael, I hate to burst your bubble. But I know where Maria is." Michael stared at her. "You do? How? Where is she?" "She's here." Michael looked around scanning the peoples faces trying to find the only one he wanted to see. When he couldn't find her face he looked back at Isabel. "Where?" "Not there, she's in one of the rooms, she came into the casino a little while ago with some guy. We couldn't get close to her, a couple of heavies wouldn't let us through. But that's not important, what is, is that she's here and we know she is." Michael stood up and headed for the reception desk. Jim stopped him in time before he spoke to the girl behind the desk. He dragged him away. "Michael what the hell are you doing?" "I'm going to find what room she's in, them I'm going to get her." "The only thing you'll get her is killed, you've heard how sick this Caldwell guy is, so you really want to risk Maria like that? Do you?" "No...but she's here, I have to help her." "And we will, but we need to think about this. Look there's too many people around here, we need to go to your room and talk about this there." Michael wanted to argue the point but he got what Jim was saying. He made his way to where Alex and Isabel were waiting for them. They went to the elevator and went to their room. *-*-*-*-*-*-* "Maria, that room over there is our bedroom, take your things in and have a lie down. You look tired. Craig and I have to talk about some things." Maria looked at them, she hadn't missed the way he's said 'our' but at the moment she just didn't care. She picked up her bag and went to the room. She dropped it on the floor and went to the bed, she sighed when she lay down on the cool sheets. It didn't take long before she drifted off into a light sleep. Joe and Craig watched at Maria left. Craig wanted to know what was wrong with her, didn't she get the message and the pills he's left her. Then again she must have else he wouldn't be standing here, he would have been dead. He turned and saw Joe watching him with curiosity, he spoke with no emotion. "What's up with her?" Joe studied him for a moment, he didn't seem to concerned he sounded more like he was bored and was just making conversation. Joe shrugged his shoulders, he went to the bar and poured himself a drink. "She was sick on the flight here, I get the feeling she doesn't like to fly. It doesn't matter right now, I want to know how the hell Frank Deluca ended up dead in one of my casinos." Craig told him how Frank had been found with a needle sticking out of his arm and how the paramedics had told him it looked like he'd overdosed, the coroner had confirmed it. "Shit! That stupid bastard, the police are going to have a field day over this one, they've been waiting for us to slip up, now we've been handed to them on a plate." Craig watched him run his hand over his neat hair, messing it up, he'd never seen the boss this worried before. "Okay so you've told me how he died, now tell me how the hell he got in here? I told everyone before I left that Frank wasn't to be let in here or in any of my casinos." "There was a new guy on the door, he didn't know anything about Frank." "Didn't he look at the list? Or the photos?" "Frank told him his name was Peter Smith and the photos weren't there, they were in the security room." "For Christ's sake didn't he get even a little suspicious when he said the name 'Smith'?" "Boss, 99% of the people who come to Vegas are called 'Smith', the guy wasn't to know." "Oh someone knew, and that someone is going to pay a very high price for this mess." Joe drank down the last of his drink and slammed the glass down on the counter, he straightened his jacket. "I'm going downstairs, you stay here and keep an eye on Maria. Oh and Craig, just a warning to you too, you're on very thin ice at the moment." "Boss?" "Don't act innocent with me, you know exactly what I mean, if not I'll jog your memory....sleeping pills." Joe didn't react to his words, he just watched him walk from the room. When the door shut he waited until he heard the ping of the elevator before going to the room Maria was in. He opened it quietly and looked at the young girl lying in the middle of the large bed. She looked so defeated. "Maria?" "Go away." "Maria, I've got something to....." "Just leave me alone." Craig strode to the bed and pulled her upright. Tears were streaming down her face, he pulled her into a hug, she didn't fight she buried her face in his shoulder, sobbing. He let her cry until there were no more tears. He reached over and pulled a tissue from the side table, he pulled back and handed it to her. "Are you ready to listen to me?" She nodded her head, she was too choked up to speak." "Nod if you know these names, Whitman and Guerin." She didn't need to nod, the look on her face told him everything he needed to know. "How...how..d..do..you..k..know those....names?" "Because they're here, they're staying here. Maria this could be your chance, your only chance. You have to promise me though that you won't do anything stupid. We have to plan this carefully, I'm going to talk to them and we're going to get you home, no matter what it takes." Maria threw her arms around his neck hugging him. Craig prayed that he would be able to pull this off, without anyone else turning up dead. TBC

Part 18