The Bus
The special Federal Bureau of Investigation Missing Persons Squad's sole responsibility is to find missing people by applying advanced psychological profiling to reveal the victims' lives. The agents can then trace the victims' whereabouts and solve whether they were abductedare missing by choicewere murderedhave committed suicide or are simply accident victims. The team reconstructs a DOD (Day of Disappearance) timeline that details the 24 hours prior to the victim's disappearancefollowing one simple rule: Learn who the victim is in order to learn where the victim is. Seasonedastute and deeply emotional senior agent Jack Malone (series star Anthony LaPaglia) heads the members of this dedicated teamwho know too well that every second is important when someone vanishes. Jack's squad includes Samantha Spade (series star Poppy Montgomery)an agent whose good looks complement a toughcomplex approach to work; Vivian Johnson (series star Marianne Jean-Baptiste)a driven investigator with a special insight into victims' families; Danny Taylor (series star Enrique Murciano)an intense and private agent whose sensitivity is often covered up by his street smarts; and Martin Fitzgerald (series star Eric Close)who earned respect last year as the newest member of the team but still has a lot to prove.When a school bus full of students goes missing during its morning run in a wealthy districtJack and the team suspect two troublemaking studentsbrothers Doug (Nick Chastain) and Richard (Chris Collins) Carrolwith a richneglectful fatherBob (Christopher McDonald). All of the students' cellular telephones and other communication devices are confiscated by the kidnappers--except for a high-tech phone that transmits pictureskept hidden by a student named Trish Randall (Tracy Alison Walsh). Working with the grainy images that Trish surreptitiously sends to her mother's phonethe agents surmise that the kids were transferred to a darkairless storage area. Then Jack's team finds the abandoned school bus with one studentshy loner Johnny Atkins (Anton Yelchin)tied up inside. Watched over by his protective motherAnne (Jayne Brook)Johnny informs Jack's team that Doug and Richard are responsible. But after a ransom drop goes horribly awryresulting in two people's deathsand an unknown man is photographed by Trish's phonethe agents must drastically alter their thinking on who the culprits are and how they can ever find the children before they suffocate.MeanwhileSamantha copes with the physical and emotional aftermath of her recent gunshot woundtentatively seeking Martin for comfort. And Jack tries to reconcile with his estranged wife and two young daughtersknowing what a dangerous world his kids must grow up in.
