"What?" his partner, Jake, asked. Jake had been a member of the cyber crime unit for several years and was considered one of the best. His ability to track criminal activity on the web was uncanny. It made Frank a little uneasy sometimes. As a rookie, he felt that he should be keeping up with Jake's track record and Frank, while a whiz on computers, wasn't quite up to par with Jake - yet.

"Another one." Frank said. He tossed the file back onto the cluttered desk. "I tell you, Jake, I just don't understand it. How do they keep slipping through our fingers? We've traced their site and email at least 3 different times and they always manage to shut down every time we get close!" He ran his fingers through his hair, a gesture that showed his frustration.

The 'they' Frank referred to was what appeared to be a couple who were running an internet based adoption firm. They offered to match prospective parents with expectant mothers willing to give up their child for adoption. The couples met several times with the "caseworker", described as a plain woman, with shoulder length blond hair, green eyes, and average height. In two instances the meetings were held with a man, described as being in his mid-forties with thinning brown hair and blue eyes. Both were described as your "typical" person on the street - in other words, hard to pick out of a crowd. Both were charming and had seemed quite sincere. They had brought a young woman with them to one of their meetings with each couple, a young woman who was always in her last trimester and who sincerely wanted to place her baby with the unassuming couple. Fifteen thousand dollars in fees changed hands each time. Fees that were supposed to cover medical expenses, legal costs, and the agency's overhead. That's when the adoptions fell apart. Suddenly calls and emails went unanswered. Addresses were found to be nonexistent. Each time a hopeful set of parents were left with shattered dreams..

Finally one couple had come forward, enraged at what had happened. Frank and Jake had now found 12 sets of victims and Frank was sure there were more out there. Couples that were ashamed to admit that they'd lost their money by trying to circumvent the more traditional, albeit slow adoption processes and laws.

"Yeah," Jake agreed. "Well, they've struck again. But this time, it's a little different. Finish reading the report."

Frank picked up the file again. He skimmed past the first page and turned to the second. His brown eyes widened in stunned disbelief and he glanced up at Jake. Jake merely nodded his head.

"They actually came through with a child on this one," he said. "A legitimate adoption! This doesn't make sense. Are you sure it's the same couple?"

"You better believe it. It's their style all the way through - until you get to the part about handing over a kid. Perfectly legal. Papers are signed in all the right places, everyone quite content. This adoption, an open adoption by the way, occurred 3 months ago."

"Open adoption?" Frank asked. "You mean where the adoptive parents keep in touch with the birth mother?"

"Yes," Jake answered.

"I don't get it." Frank said. "How did you track it to our guys?"

"I didn't." Jake sighed. "Apparently the baby has some health problems. The new parents wanted to question our friends at the adoption service about the birth mother's family medical history, but the firm no longer exists. And all attempts they've made to track down the birth mother. despite the open adoption, have turned up nothing, either. The father smelled a rat and called the judge who signed the papers. And it's worked it's way down to us."

Frank sat back in his chair, stunned. His mind reeled with the implications of this new development. What had happened to the baby's birth mother? Why did this couple get a baby, while others didn't? And how many couples were out there who had received a child through this firm?

"Oh great," he said. "You knows this just complicates things, right?"

Jake grinned. "Of course it does. Now we have to find out how many people have used this outfit and really gotten a child. Then we need to see if we can find the birth mothers of those children. And if we can't..."

"Don't even go there," Frank interrupted. "If you're trying to tell me they're not getting these kids from their actual birthmothers, you're going to ruin my day."

"Well of course the babies are coming from their birthmothers," Jake said. "I'm just suspecting that the mothers aren't exactly giving permission to give them up."

"Oh hell," Frank said. "If that's true, then we're also dealing with kidnapping. Which makes it..."

"Federal," Jake said. "Meaning we have to notify the FBI. Don't worry, though. I don't have any proof yet to support my theory."

"I'm not losing this case to some FBI idiot who'll build profile after profile while the crook is getting away with someone else's money - or worse, child. I've worked to hard on this."

"Hey, don't bite the messenger!" Jake said. "I don't intend to lose this case either. We'll just crack down on it a little harder, follow this new lead, and this time, we'll get lucky."

"Yeah," Frank said sarcastically. He rubbed one hand across his eyes. Man, he was getting a headache now. Maybe he'd call Joe tonight. Bounce some ideas off him. It was times like this that made him miss having Joe around. Miss him enough to quit his job and follow Joe to California since Joe seemed uninterested in coming back home.